The pharmacist collects drugs for prescriptions in pharmacies.
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Donald Trump’s planned tariffs on constraints imported into the United States could have extensive results for pharmaceuticals and US patients, some experts told CNBC.
Some health policy experts said that this work could interfere with complex pharmaceuticals, increase the price of US drugs, and worsen important drug shortages. Pharmaceutical companies often depend on the global manufacturing site network for various stages of the production process.
Mariana Socal, a professor of health policy professor of Johns Hopkins Bloomberg, said to CNBC, “We are already in a state where we can’t maintain a cheaper state for many prescription drugs.”
“There’s a risk of increasing the cost of increasing more costs for consumers in everything that has changed everything we have changed, trade policy, tariff policy, and prescription drugs, supply chains, and distribution networks, and have a risk of worsening economic crisis for US drugs for a long time.”
This week, Trump doubled its plans to impose a “tariff on” pharmaceutical “, which hit some of the stocks of some pharmaceuticals at the beginning of Wednesday. He said that he would suspend the steep tariffs in dozens of countries after the market failure on the same day.
Trump exempted its constraints with his tariffs released last week. Nevertheless, he said that the duty of drugs would encourage pharmaceutical producers to move the manufacturing operation to the United States when the industry’s domestic production was greatly reduced.
But experts added that it is unclear whether tariffs will affect more companies to make more drugs in the United States.
Steve Scala, an analyst at TD COWEN last week, last week, Steve Scala, an analyst at TD COWEN, has some major manufacturing factories in the United States because some pharmaceuticals, such as ELI LILLY, Bristol Myers Squibb and Abbie, can be in a better position than other people than others because they have more major manufacturing plants in the United States. It was revealed. He added that most of the responsible sites that produce active ingredients in the drug are in the United States.
Novartis and Roche, meanwhile, are “seeing more risks,” because there are few American plants and have a higher share of active ingredients.

The impact of tariffs will look different depending on the type of drug, experts say. According to Arda URAL, EY American LIFE Sciences Leader, the already inexpensive general pharmaceutical manufacturer, which accounts for about 90%of the drugs prescribed in the United States, can be the most pressured by tariffs.
In general, the drug, which is much cheaper to patients, has a much lower profit margin than branded pharmaceuticals and often depends on ingredients made in China and India, so tariffs can force some general pharmaceutical producers to leave the US market completely.
Pharmaceutical tariffs can ultimately weaken the government’s efforts to fix the high medical costs of Americans. 2024 Report In Land.
Drug shortages may worsen
This tariff can exacerbate unprecedented medical shortage in the United States, which is led by factors such as manufacturing quality management and demand surges. There are 270 active drugs in the United States and remain unchanged in the last three quarters. data At the American Society for Health Systems.
However, Marta Wosińska, a senior researcher at the Health Policy Center of Brookings Institute, said that some drug categories would be more vulnerable to shortages than other drug categories if tariffs were fermented.
General sterile injections commonly used in hospitals are already insufficient and are faced with continuous supply problems for many years. This includes products such as IV saline, cancer chemotherapy drugs and lidocaine, and is used to paralyze pain.
Common sterile injections have complex manufacturing processes and low profit margins, making it more difficult for producers to absorb the cost of tariffs.
IV line for patients lying in a bed admitted to the hospital
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Wosińska says these injection manufacturers have the ability to pass the cost increase due to certain contracts with the so -called group purchasing organization, Wosińska said. Group purchasing organizations are generally lasted for 1-3 years.
Wosińska said that if a general sterile injection manufacturer cannot pass higher costs, it can end the US market and worsen the lack of essential drugs. She said that other options are cost savings. This is “related,” because it affects the quality of the product and some manufacturers can temporarily slow production due to pollution -like problems.
General oral drugs are likewise faced with low margins, but the manufacturing industry is less complicated and the market is competitive. This includes common pills such as statins for high cholesterol, multi -blood pressure drugs and metformin for blood sugar control.
This oral drug is the most commonly used by Americans. Recent Brookings Report By wosińska.
She said that CNBC A functions like a “field market”. Here, the pharmacy and the buyer said that if one source is disturbed by tariffs, the supplier can be quickly shifted. According to Wosińska, charges can be raised, but manufacturers of the drug can easily deliver higher costs than the binding contracts, which are less binding.
Expensive drugs can be more expensive
Some experts said that tariffs on expensive branded medicines that have patent protection and are not faced with generic drugs will affect the tariffs on expensive brands. Duty for medicines imported in Europe will be the most difficult thing with a significant amount of brand drug manufacturing.
EY’s URAL said, “Brand products have already been manufactured in the United States at about 50%, and the first income is about 35%in Europe.
He said in China or Indian drugs, “There is little or no manufacturing.”
Nevertheless, branded pharmaceuticals generally have higher profit margins and more stable supply chains than general pharmaceuticals. As a result, brand manufacturers can absorb higher costs due to tariffs, or better placing locations that can be delivered to consumers.
Johns Hopkins’s SOCAL pointed out that the designated brand pharmaceutical manufacturer monopolized the market monopoly and monopolized the market monopoly, saying, “There is no other choice because there is no other choice because there is no other choice because there is no other choice.”
“If you have tariffs, how high will you pay for this brand product?” She said.
Roel Smart | Getty image
Wosińska said patients will find a higher price than the price of brand drugs. The price hike on branded medicines will be directly interpreted as a higher expenditure for people with high deductions or high -cost insurance premiums.
It’s not clear what Trump’s tariffs look like. However, patients with 20%simultaneous premiums can see that the monthly burden cost will increase if the tariff is imposed. This is because the ratio of costs is directly connected to the brand price.
In contrast, generic drugs are already low in prices, “Wosińska told CNBC, even if the $ 3 drug increases by 25%, Wosińska said to CNBC, which many patients have insurance plans for fixed co -payment of the drug.
But overall, the main impact on the patient’s pocket would be indirect. The premium will rise as the payments for the drug increases.
The problem is that the manufacturer wants to raise the price when facing a fierce blow bag from patients and lawmakers on both sides of the aisle to claim the price of drugs in the US compared to other countries. Trump and the Viden administration aimed at the imbalance.
In the March 28 note, EVERCORE ISI analyst UMER Raffat was heard from several CEOs of Pharmaceuticals that “price hikes may have to convey the impact from tariffs.”
But he said that, compared to Europe, he said that he would add more fire on the high price of many drugs in the United States. Raffat said it could be counterproductive in the “big way,” and in Trump’s first term, it could revive plans to connect US prices with other similar countries in other similar countries.
It is not easy to see the manufacturing again
The labeling with the company logo is on March 17, 2024, in Indiana Polis, Indiana Polis, Eli Lilly and the company’s headquarters campus.
Scott Olsen | Getty image
Some Wall Street analysts have raised concerns that it will be difficult to reproduce production in the United States because it can cost and take several years.
“Global supply chain is complicated and the most constrained by BMO Capital Markets.”
He said the tariff would be unlikely to change manufacturing back to the United States because the company is already operating strongly in the country. SEIGERMAN predicts that most large pharmaceutical companies will set a goal of waiting to consider more permanent manufacturing decisions until President Trump ends.
Some companies have already invested billions to increase US manufacturing. this year, Ellie Lily and Johnson & Johnson Both have announced new domestic manufacturing investment of $ 27 billion and $ 55 billion, respectively.
However, some of these drum producers have already withdrew their tariffs and warned of the potential impact on the industry’s R & D.
Ellie Lily’s CEO Dave Ricks told the BBC last week in an interview last week, saying, “We can’t violate these contracts, so we have to eat tariff costs and trade off in our company.” “In general, employees and research and development will be reduced. I predict that R & D will come first. It’s disappointing.”