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Trump seeks to match US drug costs with cheaper ones abroad.

Trump seeks to match US drug costs with cheaper ones abroad.

WASHINGTON – US President Donald Trump said he plans to sign an executive order to cut prescription drug prices by mandating that the US pay the same price for drugs as whichever country pays the lowest price in the world.

He said in a social media post that he would sign the order at 9am on May 12 (9pm Singapore time) in Washington.

Mr Trump predicted pharmaceutical prices could drop 30 per cent to 80 per cent in the US, though he also said prices would likely “rise throughout the World in order to equalise and, for the first time in many years, bring FAIRNESS TO AMERICA!”
He said he would institute what he called a most-favoured nation policy “whereby the United States will pay the same price as the Nation that pays the lowest price anywhere in the World.”

Healthcare costs in the US “will be reduced by numbers never even thought of before,” he said. 

Asian pharmaceutical companies fell in early May 12 trading.
Japanese drugmaker Chugai Pharmaceutical Co dropped as much as 7.2 per cent – the most in a month – with peers Daiichi Sankyo Co and Takeda Pharmaceutical Co losing around 5 per cent.

In South Korea, SK Biopharmaceuticals Co, Celltrion Inc and Samsung Biologics Co all fell over 3 per cent. 

The news also weighed on Chinese drugmakers.

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