US President Donald Trump today urged the country's pharma sector to bring down the cost of healthcare, including medicines, in a bid to end "global freeloading".
"We have to get prices down for a lot of reasons. We have no choice. For Medicare, for Medicaid, we have to get the prices way down so that's what we're gonna be talking about," Trump told a group of CEOs from the pharma sector.
He assured the companies of streamlining the process and end their years of wait to get drugs approved.
"The US drug companies have produced extraordinary results for our country, but the pricing has been astronomical for our country. Gonna do better," Trump said.
"New drugs have led to longer, healthier lives; we all know that. But we have to do better," the US President said.
"Accelerating cures... Focused on accelerating FDA approvals. We're gonna get the approval process much faster," he said.
As such he promised to change a lot of the rules.
"We're going to be ending global freeloading. Foreign price controls reduce the resources of American drug companies to finance drug and R&D innovation. I think you people know that very well. Very unfair to this country," Trump said.
"Our trade policy will prioritise that foreign countries pay their fair share for US-manufactured drugs so our drug companies have greater financial resources to accelerate the development of new cures. And I think it's so important. But right now, it's very unfair what other countries are doing to us," he added.
Trump rued that a lot of the companies have moved out of the country because of regulation.
"A lot of it has to do with the fact that other countries take advantage of us with their money and their money supply and devaluation because we don't know anything -- our country has been run so badly, we know nothing about devaluation. Every other country lives on devaluation," he said.
"Our trade policy will prioritise that foreign countries pay their fair share for US manufactured drugs so our drug companies have greater financial resources to accelerate the development of new cures," Trump said.
"I think it's so important. Right now, it's very unfair what other countries are doing to us. One thing really I want you to do: I've seen this over the years, but a lot of the companies have moved out, they don't make the drugs in our country any more," he said.
"A lot of that has to do with regulation, a lot of it has to do with the fact that other countries take advantage of ours with their money and their money supply and devaluation," the US President said.
"Because our country has been run so badly, we know nothing about devaluation. You look at Japan. They play the money market, they play the devaluation market, while we sit here like a bunch of dummies," he said.
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