Ladies and gentlemen, the president of the united states. [applause] pres. Trump thank you very much. Thank you very much, everybody. Please. This promises to be a very big an very important meeting. So bear with me. It may take a little while. But it has to do with a thing called drug pricing and as you know congress has been working on this for decades an decades. And we are now doing something that is going to be incredible for the american public. Today, im taking a bold and historic, very dramatic action to reduce the price of Prescription Drugs for american patients and american seniors. Previous administrations did nothing, absolutely nothing. As drug lobbyists, special interests and Foreign Countries ripped off our citizens. Under the last administration, drug prices rose a staggering 55 . Thanks to my administrations aggressive actions since taking office, we have successfully lowered drug prices for the first time in 51 years. But this reduction is still not close to what i want, what i expect, and im looking for help for our great seniors, especially, in particular. Thats what were doing today. Youll hear something which will be very shocking. Were doing things that nobody thought could be done. Its going to have an incredible impact. Unfortunately, weve been waiting for congress to take action for many decades to reduce drug prices for more than more than just a small handful of people, but even the small handful of people never got price reductions. And im unwilling to wait any longer. Therefore, today, im signing four sweeping executive orders that will lead to massive reduction in drug costs. Massive. Weve already gotten them down a little bit, but thats not good enough. First time in 51 years, as i said. But thats not good enough. They represent the most farreaching Prescription Drug reforms ever issued by a president. Nothing even close. Joining us for this important occasion are secretary of health and Human Services alex where is alex . Alex azar. C. M. S. Administrator. Both doing a great job. Seema verma. Thank you, seema. F. D. A. Administrator dr. Stephen hahn, who is really speeding up the process of therapeutics and vaccines and i just heard from some of the Big Drug Companies and theyre saying f. D. A. Has been moving the process along. Very important. Can you move it faster, please . Ok . Thank you. Great job. Appreciate it. And administrator of Health Resources and Service Administration tom engels. Tom, thank you. Thank you very much for being here. Were also pleased to have with us our great governor from the state of florida, incredible state, incredible guy. Governor ron desantis. Thank you, ron, very much. Appreciate it. Youre going to say a few words in the end, good. Representative matt gaetz, our friend. Where is hi, matt. Youre so quiet back there today. Ive never seen you like that. Thank you, matt. Great job youre doing. Appreciate it very much. Speaker of the Florida House of representatives jose of course liva. Thank you, jose. Very much. Good job. And many other state and local leaders, a lot of them. Thank you very much for being here. The four orders im signing today will completely restructure the Prescription Drug market. In terms of pricing and Everything Else to make these medications affordable and accessible for all americans. The first order will require federal Community Health centers to pass the giant discounts they receive from Drug Companies on insulin and epipens directly to their patients. You know, insulin became so expensive, people werent able to use it. They desperately needed it. We have it to a level youre not going to believe. Epipens likewise. Youve been reading horrible stories about epipens over the last six or seven years. Horrible, horrible, horrible increases. Where they went from almost nothing to massive amounts of money. Were changing that right now. These providers should not be receiving discounts for themselves while charging the poorest patients massive full prices. Under this order, the price of insulin for affected patients will come down to just pennies a day. Pennies a day from numbers that you werent able to think about. Its a massive cost savings. The second executive order im signing this afternoon will allow states, wholesalers and pharmacies to do something other politicians have promised for decades and decades but never done. They never delivered. We will finally allow the safe and legal importation of Prescription Drugs from canada and other countries where the price for the identical drug is incredibly lowered. Its a difference like you wouldnt believe. 70 , 80 , 90 . 30 , but massively lower. Then the identical drug made in the same plant, the same factory, the same exact drug, same everything. Same box. Same pill. Yet its 50 , 60 , 70 lower. This is something that ron and i have been discussing from the time ron got elected and ive been wanting to do it. And it takes a long time from a legal standpoint. And weve got it all worked out. We are going to be getting massive drug savings in florida and other states. And weve had numerous states that wanted to do it, ron really was at the forefront, i will say that. But you have other states that have caught on, its caught on very quickly. Didnt take them long to figure that one out, ron. Too obvious. We pay for all the research and all the development and Foreign Countries pay absolutely nothing and our consumer gets charged. Its been going on for decades. The American People pay an average of over three times more for medicine than the canadians. Many people go to canada, i see it all the time. They go to canada and buy drugs, then they come back. Prescription drugs. Because they save so much money the trip is well worth it. The Obamabiden Administration pledged to end this unfairness and allow drug importation but they never got it done. They were unable to get it done. They didnt get a lot of things done, but under my administration, were standing up to the lobbyists and special interests and fighting back against a rigged system. Rigged system. Youve heard that word before. Im unrigging the system. That is many decades old. Were doing something that should have opinion done a long time ago. The third revolutionary order im signing today will prevent middlemen and women i guess but youve heard about the middleman, right . The middleman that makes so much money, nobody knows who they are, nobody has any idea who they are. They make more money perhaps than even the Drug Companies themselves and the Drug Companies in all fairness to them, big pharma are doing a great job with the vaccines, doing a great job in therapeutics, i can tell you because i deal with them a lot. But i think the middlemen make more money than them and they dont do much. Maybe they dont do anything. Nobody even knows who they are. But the middlemen are making a fortune. And pharmacy benefit managers and people are just bilking medicare patients. With these high drug prices while they pocket gigantic discounts. Gigantic discounts. The amount of money theyve made over the decades is too incredible even to speculate or say. Its massive. Some very rich people are not going to like me very much today, i can tell you. I probably know them very well. I probably see them in palm beach. Nobody ever talks about who they are. Everyone i hear the middlemen for years, the middlemen, right, alex . He doesnt know who they are either but he knows theyre rich. Theyre not going to be so rich anymore. Because the money is going down to reduce the price of drugs, Prescription Drugs. So thats a big thing. Thats a tremendous step. Should have been take an long time ago, but they have a great deal of power. I dont have to tell you how many phone calls i have had in the last few days when they heard i was going to be doing this. Ive heard from people that i havent spoken to in a long time. Frequently, Drug Companies give these middlemen discounts of up to 50 on the price of Prescription Drugs, but too often those discounts are not passed on to the pharmacy counter, meaning the people. This rule will pass those billions and billions of dollars a year, i mean many, many billions, a year in discounts onto patients. Directly onto patients. Saving americans with high drug costs thousands of dollars a year. Individual people will make thousands of dollars a year. Youre not going to believe the impact of the things were talking about today are going to have. Mark meadows, our great chief is sitting here, hes just cant even believe it. He was a very successful congressman. Hes been after people to do this for a long time and they never got to the gate. I understand why. Tremendous pressure. Tremendous pressure put on the president not to do it. The fourth and final order im signing today is the granddaddy of them all. Will end global freeloading on the backs of american patients and american seniors. For decades, our citizens have paid the highest prices for drugs, Prescription Drugs, anywhere in the world and its not even close. Foreign nations have paid vastly less for the exact same drug, again, and the exact same box. From the exact same plant. From the exact same company. They would pay 10 , 20 , 30 , what our people are paying for a pill that would sell for 1. In certain countries. I wont name them. Theyre all allies. They call them allies. I call them socalled allies. But a pill that would cost 1 could be 7 or 8 in our country. Same exact pill. We pay 80 more to nations like germany, canada and others for some of the most expensive medicines, identical in all respects. This means that americans are funding the enormous cost of Drug Research and development for the entire planet. We are bearing the entire cost of all of this. Theyre bearing none. They say this is what were going to pay. In some cases, its a socialist country. So were paying to reduce drug prices in a socialist country. How does that work . How does that work . How does that work . How does that work . These are things that should have been done a long time ago. And even from our standpoint, we would have done it more quickly but we have to go through vast amounts of waiting periods, waiting times, and this is an incredible day. This is a big day. That is a big day. Ive been waiting for this day for a long time. We incredibly and foolishly bear the full cost of all research and development. Which is massive. In all fairness to the drug company, can take 15 years to get something approved. Billions and billions of dollars for a simple drug. It also means that the u. S. Taxpayers are effectively subsidizing the socialist health care systems. Of foreign welfare states and many other countries. We will end that abuse and restore the principles of free enterprise, but this doesnt even have to do with free enterprise. This has to do with common sense and courage, to be honest. And courage. Under this transformative order, medicare will be required to purchase drugs at the same price as other countries pay. So we would pay four or five times more for a drug we now pay if somebody else pays 1 and we pay 5, were paying 1. Whats going to happen is their number will go up. Our number will come very substantially down and well all agree at 2 1 2 or or whatever the final number. But if some country is paying, whether it may be in the world because they had a better negotiator, because they had smarter people than we had. Thats what its all about, maybe more honest people, who knows, could be a lot of things going. But we have we get the lowest price anywhere in the world. And no more will we have to suffer by saying, gee, why is it so much cheaper for the exact same drug in some other country . We will determine what other medically advanced nations pay for the most expensive drugs. And instead of paying the highest price, medicare will pay the lowest price. So will lots of other u. S. Buyers. Medicare is the largest purchaser of drugs anywhere in the world by far. Medicare. Largest purchaser of drugs in the world. And were finally going to use that incredible power to achieve a fairer and lower price for everyone. Everyone will get a fairer and much lower price. This is not talking about one half of a percent. This is big stuff. Under our ridiculous system, which has been broken for decades, we arent even allowed to negotiate the price of drugs. Can you believe it . I said when are we going to negotiate . We are restricted from congress from negotiating the price of drugs. Can you imagine. I want a better price. Im sorry, sir. You are not allowed to do that. Thats illegal. What kind of a system is that . The world looks at us and say where do these people come from . Its going to end. I see youre a fan of what were saying. Are you a doctor . Doctors know. Doctors know. You have known that for years. We are not allowed to negotiate but take whatever it is. Im pleased to announce as a result of the orders im signing today, the heads of the major Drug Companies have requested a meeting to discuss how we can quickly and significantly lower drug prices and out of pocket expenses for americans. They want to do whats right. I think its so important what theyre doing on therapeutics and vaccines and well see them on tuesday. But this could have been done a long time ago. The drug Company Executives will be at the white house on tuesday. And they have some ideas how to significantly reduce drug prices. We have already given them to you. I dont know if they can possibly do something to substitute for what is called favored nations. That means we get the lowest price anywhere in the world. Anyone who can get the best price, thank you for being a good negotiator because we get the lowest price, too. Should have been done a long time ago. We may not need to implement the fourth executive order, which is a very tough order for them. Very tough. And i understand that. And we have a lot of respect for our great pharmaceutical companies, Drug Companies. We have a lot of respect. Well see what they have to say on tuesday. Maybe they have an idea that is good. It has to be very substantial. They are actually in favor of the rebate rule, the roll back, because they say thats people getting money that arent doing anything for it and bigger money than they are getting, i believe. If they are not, the order will be implemented if we dont do a deal or agree to something. The order, number four, favored nations, big order. They are all big. Theyre all four, all very big, by the way. But the fourth order, going to hold it until august 24 hoping that the pharmaceutical companies that will come up with something to reduce drug prices. And the clock starts right now. 12 00, after which the order on favored nations will go into effect. It. , i will hold you to 12 00 and not 12 01. We are working hard on therapeutics for the china virus which remains our top priority and which are coming along at record speed. Thank you very much, dr. Hahn. You have been fantastic. You really have been fantastic. Two vaccine candidates are entering the time stage of Clinical Trials this month and several more vaccines will enter final trials in the following weeks. I just spoke to one this week and they are working on therapeutics as opposed to , vaccine. Frankly thats the most , exciting. You you can walk into a hospital right now and get people better. I like that even more. But the vaccine longterm will be great. So we have them both going, they are both going rapidly and both are going very well. And the early indications are beyond happy, right . Its beyond happy. We are massproducing all of the most promising candidates already so that on day one, that means we think we have the answer otherwise we wouldnt be making that big bet, so that on day one, the day we get it approved, it will be available, doctor, is that correct . Normally this process to get up to where we are now, three years, four years. I have heard numbers like that and we have done it in literally a matter of weeks. An incredible thing. One of the things i was talking about, drugs in the pipeline for getting drugs approved and costs billed once in dollars and 12, 15 years and under dr. Hahn and scott before you, worked very hard. Scott, weve got that down to a number that is less than half. We have to make sure its safe. And right to try came out of this whole thing where we have a drug that we think is good. Matt gates worked about it and mark, when he was a congressman and but right to try is incredible. We have a drug that works but has to go through this very long and very detailed purposes for purposes of safety and make sure its good. If somebody is terminally ill, person isnt going to make it. We pass legislation which they have been trying to get for 42 years. Its called right to try, where people sign a document that if it doesnt work out, they are not suing the drug company or Insurance Company or our country. Instead of traveling if they have money, they travel to asian , travel to europe and travel all over the world in the hopes of finding a cure. If they have no money, sadly, they go home with no hope and they die. We have now a program right to program, right to try, finally happened after i guess as long as you have been a doctor, they have been trying to get this. But we have a program where they can try these really promising medicines. And you have no idea how successful this has already been. Its incredible. And one of the things that really came out of it was the biggest problem for the Drug Companies and they didnt want it in their sample. Because people that are that sick they didnt want them to , sample. We created a separate sample so it doesnt hurt them. But one of the things that has come out of it is if it works, is a better testing formula than that . Somebody who is terminally ill and makes it. And we are having examples of it. It has been an incredible program. And i hope someone can write a story about it because i love the name, right to try. Right to try a drug that isnt going to be available two to three years. They are terminally ill. Before you would say, they are terminally ill but we dont want to give them a drug that is going to hurt them. But they are going t