Most-Favored-Nation Drug Pricing—How Courts Could Shape Future Health Regulation

Authors

• Nicholas Bagley, University of Michigan Law SchoolFollow
• Craig Garthwaite, Kellogg School of Management Northwestern University
• Benedic Ippolito, American Enterprise Institute

Document Type

Article

Publication Date

2025

Abstract

The Trump administration recently issued an Executive Order aimed at delivering most-favored- nation (MFN) drug pricing to the US. The order instructs drug manufacturers to reduce the prices of brand-name drugs to match the lowest price among selected high-income countries. If drug makers do not make significant progress toward this goal, the administration will pursue several strategies to lower prices. Most notably, the Executive Order directs the Secretary of Health and Human Services (HHS) to propose a rule to impose MFN pricing. In all likelihood, the administration will revisit prior efforts to enact MFN pricing through the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Innovation (CMMI). But doing so will require the administration to navigate some difficult legal questions—the most urgent of which relates to the geographical reach of an MFN policy.

Comments

This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the CC-BY License. © 2025 Bagley et al. JAMA Health Forum.

Recommended Citation

Bagley, Nicholas, Craig Garthwaite, and Benedic Ippolito. "Most-Favored-Nation Drug Pricing—How Courts Could Shape Future Health Regulation." JAMA Health Forum 6, no. 10 (2025).