“Unlike Trump, I believe we need more than just press releases, polite requests to drug companies, and pilot projects,” the senator said.
As President Donald Trump’s deadline for large drugmakers to make “binding commitments” to cut prices expired on Monday, Sen. Bernie Sanders released a report showing that the cost of hundreds of prescriptions has risen in the United States since the Republican returned to office in January.
In response to the president’s May executive order and July letters giving drugmakers 60 days to act, Sanders (I-Vt.), ranking member of the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee, “directed his staff to examine prescription drug prices,” explains the report, The Art of the Bad Deal: Trump’s Failure to Lower Prescription Drug Prices.
The committee staffers documented price increases for 688 medications — 310 brand-name drugs and 378 generic ones — during Trump’s second term, with a median increase of 5.5% and 25 treatments more than doubling in cost.
“Of the 17 companies that received a letter from President Trump on July 31, 2025, 15 raised the price of at least one product since Trump took office,” the report notes. “Since Trump sent letters asking drug companies to lower prices, the prices of 87 drugs have increased.”
Overall, the highest hike was 1,555%. Eton Pharmaceuticals increased the price of Galzin, which is used to treat a rare genetic liver disorder called Wilson’s disease, from $5,400 to $88,800 per year in the United States — even though it only costs $1,400 in the United Kingdom and $2,800 in Germany.
The report highlights some other examples, such as Novartis’ cancer drug Kymriah, which increased by $25,600, or 4.5%, to $594,000 annually. In the UK, it costs $381,000 a year, and in Germany it’s $282,000. The report also notes the company’s executive compensation last year: $83.3 million.
Vertex jacked up the price of Trikafta, used to treat cystic fibrosis, by 7%, or $23,900, to $365,000 a year, according to the report. Just north of the US, in Canada, it’s only $146,000. The company’s executive compensation for 2024 was $12.7 million.
Johnson & Johnson increased the price of Xarelto, used to treat and prevent blood clots, by 5% to $7,200 — far higher than its cost in Canada ($750), the UK ($880), and Germany ($1,300). The company also hiked the price of Spravato, a nasal spray used to treat depression, by 8% to $28,100, roughly double the cost in those other three countries. Its executive compensation was $64.5 million.
“These price increases are just the beginning. Trump’s chaotic across-the-board tariffs will further increase prices,” the report warns. “Trump has already imposed a 15% tariff on pharmaceutical products from Europe and Japan, and he has threatened to increase tariffs on pharmaceuticals to up to 250%.”
“On September 25, Trump announced that he will impose a 100% tariff on pharmaceutical products starting October 1 unless a product’s manufacturer is making or is planning to make the product in the US,” the publication details. “Insurers are already reporting that higher drug prices arising from tariffs will result in higher health insurance premiums.”
The report continues:
In addition, instead of working with Congress to pass legislation to lower prescription drug prices, the Trump administration spent its first months in office racing to sign a law that makes the largest federal healthcare cuts in history. The cuts will make it harder for millions of Americans to afford prescription drugs as people lose coverage and face ballooning premium bills and rising out-of-pocket costs. In addition, hidden in the administration’s One Big Beautiful Bill Act is a multibillion-dollar giveaway to some of the largest pharmaceutical companies in the world.
OBBBA prevents or delays Medicare from negotiating the price of some of the most expensive prescription drugs. Public reporting and analyses have identified several drugs that will benefit from this loophole.
The document stresses that “any real solution to lowering prescription drug prices will require legislation, not just press releases,” and points to Sanders’ Prescription Drug Price Relief Act, which “would ensure Americans do not pay more for prescription drugs than the median price paid in Canada, the United Kingdom, France, Germany, and Japan.”
Although Trump’s health and human services secretary, Robert F. Kennedy Jr., “committed to working with Sen. Sanders on this legislation at a hearing in May 2025, HHS stopped responding to staff-level requests to work together to get this bill passed into law after one meeting,” according to the report.
Echoing the report, Sanders said in a Monday statement that “I agree with President Trump: It is an outrage that the American people pay, by far, the highest prices in the world for prescription drugs. But unlike Trump, I believe we need more than just press releases, polite requests to drug companies, and pilot projects. We need real action to take on the greed of the pharmaceutical industry and substantially reduce the cost of prescription drugs for all Americans.”
“If President Trump is serious about making real change, he will support my legislation to make sure Americans pay no more than people in other major countries for the exact same prescription drug,” added Sanders, a longtime advocate of Medicare for All. “Now is the time to end the greed of the pharmaceutical industry.”
