President Donald Trump’s administration is preparing to announce a new round of drug-pricing agreements with midsize biotech companies as soon as August 31,2026, according to sources familiar with the matter.¹

The companies are expected to agree to provide discounts on outpatient drugs to state Medicaid programs in order to keep prices that states pay in line with what the companies charge in foreign countries, according to sources.¹ The exact drugmakers involved in the deals have yet to be named, and the report describing the plan has yet to be independently verified.¹

What has the administration already secured?

The expected announcement would extend the pricing framework the White House has been building for months, the voluntary "Most Favored Nation" (MFN).² As part of the pricing framework, manufacturers are expected to offer all new drugs launched in the U.S. at prices comparable to those charged in other high-income countries.² To date, the administration has reached voluntary MFN pricing agreements with 17 pharmaceutical companies, including Pfizer, Eli Lilly, and Johnson & Johnson, to slash prices of their medicines for the government's Medicaid program and for cash payers.^1,2 Moving forward, the administration says it expects to reach similar agreements with most manufacturers of sole-source brand name drugs and biologics in the country.²

Lindsay Bealor Greenleaf, head of market access policy strategy at ADVI discussed with Pharmaceutical Executive how the MFN price is actually achieved."With regard to Medicaid, the way that that MFN price would be achieved would be through a rebate construct. The Medicaid program would receive an MFN price on net, with the manufacturer basically cutting a check for the government. Patient out of pocket costs in Medicaid are not much of an issue. There's not an impact on patient out-of-pocket costs or patient access, necessarily. In the Medicaid program with these voluntary deals, the impact is felt squarely on the manufacturers specifically."

How large are the projected savings?

Back in May, the White House said the MFN framework was expected to generate $64.3 billion in federal and state savings over the next 10 years.² That estimate covers the Medicaid and cash-payer channels specifically targeted by the voluntary agreements, but the pricing policy is not limited to those channels. However: applied across all U.S. markets, including the private insurance market, the framework is expected to generate $529 billion in domestic savings over the next 10 years, according to the White House.²

The administration frames the effort as a direct response to a persistent gap between what Americans and patients elsewhere pay for prescription medicines, with U.S. patients currently paying by far the most for prescription drugs, often nearly three times more than in other developed nations.¹

What remains unresolved?

Whether Monday's expected announcement will name specific companies, and how closely its terms will track the MFN framework outlined in May, remains unclear. The original report did not identify which drugmakers were expected to participate, and with 17 companies already under voluntary agreements, the administration may be looking for most manufacturers of sole-source brand name drugs and biologics to eventually follow suit.

Sources

1. White House to announce new drug pricing deals with biotechs, Bloomberg News reports Reuters August 26, 2026, https://www.yahoo.com/news/politics/articles/white-house-announce-drug-pricing
2. Drug pricing deal to generate savings of $64.3 billion over 10 years, White House says Reuters May 5, 2026, https://www.reuters.com/business/healthcare-pharmaceuticals/trump-administration-says-drug-pricing-deal-generate-643-billion-savings-over-10-2026-05-05/