President Donald Trump on Thursday again hosted drug company leaders in the Oval Office to tout a deal to voluntarily cut their prices, part of the administration’s push to convince voters that Republicans are working to lower their health care costs ahead of the midterm elections.
Regeneron Pharmaceuticals has agreed to lower the prices of current medications sold to the government and to Americans through a new website, TrumpRx.gov, in exchange for tariff relief and other incentives, the company said.
Regeneron also announced that the Food and Drug Administration has approved Otarmeni, a gene therapy that targets genetic hearing loss, as part of its new priority review program. The company said it would make the therapy available free in the United States.
Regeneron’s agreement with the government, which has been expected, is the latest deal struck as part of Trump’s program known as the Most Favored Nation initiative, which is an effort to link U.S. drug prices to those of other countries with lower costs.
“It’s the biggest price reduction in drugs in history,” Trump said, touting the initiative. “By itself, we should win the midterms.”
All 17 pharmaceutical companies initially targeted by the Trump administration in its Most Favored Nation push have now agreed to cut their prices. Trump officials vowed to strike more agreements with other companies.
“It’s not the finish line,” said Chris Klomp, the chief counselor of the Department of the Health and Human Services and a key negotiator on the deals.
Voters have identified health care costs as their top economic concern heading into this year’s midterm elections, according to polling conducted by KFF, a nonpartisan health care think tank and polling organization. Trump’s advisers have also urged him and Republicans to tout their work to lower drug prices in an effort to win over independent voters.
Notus first reported the administration’s drug-pricing deal with Regeneron.
Some health policy experts and Democrats have panned the Trump administration’s drug price deals, citing analysis that the prices available for some prescription drugs through TrumpRx are higher than the prices through other discount programs or generic alternatives. Sen. Ron Wyden (Oregon), the top Democrat on the Senate Finance Committee, this week released a report questioning the terms of the administration’s deals and calling the initiative a “sham.”
Several lawmakers also pressed Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. in hearings this week to release more information about the administration’s negotiations with pharmaceutical companies, including the specific language of the agreements.
“If these deals with Big Pharma are so great for Americans, then we should be able to see what promises have been made,” Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Massachusetts) told Kennedy on Wednesday.
Regeneron executives on Thursday singled out two attendees who have been patients of their company: a 2-year-old named Travis Smith, who was born deaf but received the company’s therapy and can now hear, as well as Trump himself.
The company produced an antibody treatment that Trump used after contracting a serious case of covid-19 in late 2020. The president hailed the treatment as a “cure” and pushed for it to receive swift approval from the Food and Drug Administration.
“The biopharma industry of America has and will continue to deliver miraculous breakthrough,” George Yancopoulos, Regeneron’s president, said in the Oval Office. “You, Mr. President, and young Travis are living testament to that.”
Trump’s scheduled event on drug pricing followed the administration’s announcement earlier Thursday that states must undertake new audits of their Medicaid programs, which officials have also characterized as a bid to boost affordability. States would have one month to tell the administration how they plan to confirm that providers participating in the Medicaid program are legitimate and not seeking to defraud the program.
Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services Administrator Mehmet Oz previewed the new state Medicaid audits at a Politico health care conference Tuesday. He characterized the Trump administration’s ongoing crackdown on health care fraud as an effort to defend the programs and taxpayers’ spending.
“The president has said it many times, he loves and cherishes Medicaid and Medicare,” Oz said, referencing his own experiences as a health care provider who treated Medicaid patients and valued the program. “And if you love something, you protect it. You don’t let it get defrauded.”
It’s time for a nationwide audit of Medicaid. Every governor can be part of the solution or part of the problem. pic.twitter.com/l5wUJHcuua
— DrOzCMS (@DrOzCMS) April 23, 2026
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