When the Trump administration signed its Most-Favoured Nation (MFN) executive order in 2025, few doubted the measure would shake global pharmaceutical markets. By tying U.S. drug prices to the lowest government-negotiated rates in Europe and Canada, the White House pitched the plan as relief for American patients at the pharmacy counter.
But as Dr. Emil Panzaru, Research Director at the Consumer Choice Center, warns in an interview with CEA Talk, the knock-on effects could prove far more severe: “It works like a price control,” he explains. “You may see lower sticker prices, but the costs of R&D remain the same. If companies cannot recover those investments, they may simply stop launching or developing new drugs.”
The stakes are considerable. It takes on average ten years and more than $2.6 billion to bring a new drug to market. University of Chicago modelling suggests MFN-style price controls could reduce global R&D investment by up to 60%, eliminating hundreds of new medicines over the next two decades. “That means fewer cancer treatments, fewer options for patients with rare diseases—lost opportunities measured in lives,” Panzaru stresses.
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