Johnon & Johnson said late Thursday it will lower prices for certain prescription drugs and match the rates in other countries, the latest pharmaceutical company to strike a deal with the Trump administration in exchange for tariff relief.
The New Jersey-based health conglomerate was one of the 17 companies President Trump called out last summer to lower drug prices as part of his administration’s “most favored nation” push.
Drugmakers have been eager to strike voluntary deals to avoid punitive actions such as tariffs that could cut deeply into their profits. The only companies who received letters that have yet to strike deals with the administration are AbbVie and Regeneron.
“I’m proud that Johnson & Johnson is answering President Trump’s call to lower drug prices for everyday Americans while maintaining our role in improving and saving lives and ensuring that the United States continues to lead the world in healthcare innovation,” Joaquin Duato, chairman and chief executive of Johnson & Johnson, said in a statement.
Under the agreement, J&J will offer specific drugs for sale directly to consumers at significant discounts through the Trump administration’s forthcoming TrumpRx website. It will also offer its drugs to the Medicaid program at comparable prices to other developed countries. The company did not say which drugs were part of the agreement.
J&J also did not specify how long its tariff reprieve will be, saying the specific terms remain confidential.
The agreement follows similar deals the administration has already made with pharma companies like Amgen, Bristol Myers Squibb, Gilead, GSK, Merck, Novartis, Genentech and Sanofi.
Johnson & Johnson also said that it is planning two new U.S. manufacturing facilities as part of a previously announced $55 billion investment; a cell therapy manufacturing site in Pennsylvania and a drug product manufacturing facility in North Carolina.
The company said construction is progressing on a $2 billion biologics manufacturing facility in Wilson, N.C., which will create about 5,000 skilled jobs in the state.