Pfizer could cut jobs, rethink expansion plans, if ‘radical’ Trump order goes through

On an earnings call this week, Pfizer’s CEO, Albert Bourla, said that the company could rethink expansion plans in the U.S. and cut jobs if President Trump’s executive orders on drug prices take effect. Pfizer is reportedly considering investments in both R&D and manufacturing the U.S.

The orders to lower drug prices — which were announced last week — involve several measures such as eliminating rebates, allowing imports and offering discounts for insulin and epinephrine. But the order that drug companies and industry trade groups have hotly contested is a plan that would link drug prices in the U.S. with prices charged abroad. 

According to a transcription of the call posted by The Motley Fool, Bourla said, “The international price index is radical. Not only [is it] imposing socialized medicine to America, it also will create uncertainty and could lead to job losses."

Bourla and others in pharma have also said that the executive orders will create a distraction in the industry, which is currently mobilized to quickly develop vaccines and treatments for COVID-19.

After news of the executive orders broke, a meeting between pharma execs and the White House was reportedly called off, as friction grows between the industry and the Trump administration over the proposed drug price measures.