New details about President Donald Trump’s secret deal with drug companies emerged Saturday, enraging watchdogs who call the promised benefit to the public a “mirage.”
Documents obtained through Freedom of Information Act lawsuits reveal pharmaceutical companies were induced to raise drug prices abroad and promised protection from Trump’s tariffs in return, the Washington Post was first to report.
“Trump’s drug pricing deals are a mirage, designed to convince Americans that he’s taken significant action on drug pricing while creating minimal if any downside for Big Pharma,” said Peter Maybarduk, Access to Medicines Director for Public Citizen.
“The texts show Trump handing out favors to Big Pharma, undercutting his own models to lower prices, and throwing the support of the U.S. government behind corporate decisions to deny medicines entirely to other countries.”
Pfizer and Eli Lilly — both of whom agreed to cut some U.S. prices last year — promoted the agreement before the final terms had been resolved, according to the Post.
The agreement also “includes an unmistakable promise that [Health and Human Services] will take all regulatory, administrative, and other actions necessary” to carry out the terms, according to a 2025 document signed by Pfizer CEO Albert Bourla and Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.
Public Citizen, the consumer watchdog that sued to obtain the heavily redacted records, said the disclosures raised significant questions.
“There’s a lot missing where we can’t get a great sense of how good these deals might be for the American people,” Sarah Karlin-Smith, research director for Public Citizen’s Access to Medicines Program, told the Post. “But the more that is revealed, the more it becomes clear that they are designed to protect pharma’s pocketbooks, not patients.”
Representatives for the Trump administration, Pfizer and Lilly told the Post the deals lowered drug prices and the redactions remain necessary.
“The Administration cannot release contracts with drugmakers that contain commercially sensitive information and would undermine ongoing negotiations with other companies,” White House spokesman Kush Desai reportedly said.
“We stand by our belief that the agreement Pfizer voluntarily reached with the Administration last September is a win for American patients,” said Amy Rose, a Pfizer spokeswoman.
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