Democratic senators are increasing pressure on the pharmaceutical industry to reveal the details of the deals made between the Trump administration and multiple high profile pharmaceutical companies.¹

Senate Finance Committee ranking member Ron Wyden, D-Ore, previously issued letters to four of the pharmaceuticals companies, demanding to know the exact details of the deals related to MFN pricing.² Those companies include:

• Pfizer
• AstraZeneca
• Novo Nordisk
• Eli Lilly

Seven other Democratic senators joined Wyden, including Jeff Merkley, Dick Durbin, John Hickenlooper, Chris Murphy, Amy Klobuchar, Elizabeth Warren, and Michael Bennet.

Which companies did Senator Wyden send new letters to?

Those same Senators (except for Bennet) joined Wyden in his latest effort, during which he expanded his call to include the following companies:

• AbbVie
• Amgen
• Boehringer Ingelheim
• Bristol Myers Squibb
• Genentech
• Gilead
• GlacoSmithKline
• Johnson & Johnson
• Merck
• Novartis
• Sanofi

In the letter, Wyden wrote, ““We write today to seek more information from [company] about which drugs are subject to the Medicaid components of your agreement with the Trump administration and whether the prices you will make available on these drugs are actually lower than the net pricing states currently receive on the same products in Medicaid,” the senators wrote. “It is difficult to discern what American patients and taxpayers stand to gain from your agreement with the Trump Administration.”

The deals at the center of the letter are the result of President Trump’s most-favored nation executive order from last year. In the EO, President Trump demanded that pharmaceutical companies treat the US as an MFN when setting drug prices, which would result in Americans paying the same or less than the lowest price of the drug in other global markets.

President Trump also threatened tariffs against the pharmaceutical industry, demanding both lower prices and an increase in US manufacturing investments.

Late last year, major pharma companies began announcing deals with the administration, which resulted in the creation of TrumpRx. In exchange for not being tariffed, these companies would help the government offer MFN prices through a DTC, government-run website.

Pharmaceutical Executive recently spoke with Hogan Lowells partner Alice Valdure Curan about the launch of TrumpRx and its potential impact on pricing and access.

When asked about TrumpRx, she explained, “What does this mean for patients who don’t have the discretionary income to pay for these products? Normally, when we saw DTC cash prices, they were on products that were discretionary spending. The products that we now see on TrumpRx move beyond discretionary lifestyle products to core, primary care products. It’s great that patients can access those, but is there going to be some incentive for health plans not to pay for them and tell patients to just get the DTC price?”

She continued, “There are operational and patient access concerns. But it’s great to see the website up and running so that we can see those details.”

When asked about the impact on strategy and pricing, Curan explained, “What I’m seeing is people thinking about what they’re doing with drugs in comparative markets. Are they launching at all? If they are, what price are they launching at? Are they willing to say that they’re not going to launch unless they can get a certain price because they don’t want to have that spill over impact in the US market?”

It’s unclear if Senate Democrats can force representatives from the pharma industry to testify about the contents of the deals with the administration, but it’s clear that they have questions they would like answered.

Sources

1. Wyden, Senate Democrats, Press Pharmaceutical Companies for Evidence of Cost Savings for Americans Following Secret Deals with Trump. United States Senate Committee on Finance. March 6, 2026. https://www.finance.senate.gov/ranking-members-news/wyden-senate-democrats-press-pharmaceutical-companies-for-evidence-of-cost-savings-for-americans-following-secret-deals-with-trump
2. Wyden, Senate Democrats Call on Pharmaceutical Companies to Disclose How Trump Drug Announcements Will Lower Costs in Medicaid. United States Senate Committee on Finance. December 11, 2025. Accessed March 6, 2026. https://www.finance.senate.gov/ranking-members-news/wyden-senate-democrats-press-pharmaceutical-companies-for-evidence-of-cost-savings-for-americans-following-secret-deals-with-trump