Pharmaceutical stocks slide as Trump vows to cut US prescription drug prices ‘by 30-80%’

Donald Trump has promised to use his executive powers to cut the price of prescription drugs in the US in an attempt to bring them more in line with other countries, triggering a sharp fall in drugmakers’ share prices.

The US president has said he will sign an order on Monday that will reduce prescription drug and pharmaceutical prices “almost immediately” by “30% to 80%”.

Writing on Truth Social, his social media platform, Trump said on Sunday it was “difficult to explain and very embarrassing” why drug prices in the US were higher compared with many other countries.

“The Pharmaceutical/Drug Companies would say, for years, that it was Research and Development Costs, and that all of these costs were, and would be, for no reason whatsoever, borne by the ‘suckers’ of America, ALONE,” he wrote.