Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT), who has been touring the country trying to galvanize an opposition movement to what he characterizes as President Donald Trump‘s empowered oligarchy, launched a new line of attack on Trump this week.
Sanders slammed the President’s Executive Order on drug prices, presented by the White House as a populist move to lower drug prices across the board.
In the post below, Sanders — noting how much more expensive certain drugs are in the U.S. compared to other developed nations — questions whether the EO really does that.
Knocking Trump’s self-identification as a “deal maker,” Sanders challenges Trump’s bona fides as an advocate for “America First” — since the EO gives so-called Big Pharma’s “small-molecule drugs” more protection from Medicare negotiations that were put in place in the Biden-era Inflation Reduction Act (IRA).
Trump now “wants to delay Medicare from negotiating prices,” Sanders asserts.
Trump, the so-called dealmaker, now wants to delay Medicare from negotiating drug prices.
Eli Lilly charges Americans $1,080 for the diabetes drug Mounjaro when the same drug can be purchased for $200 in Japan and $520 in the U.K.
Is this what Trump means by America First?
— Bernie Sanders (@SenSanders) April 16, 2025
The American Prospect succinctly describes the change Sanders is talking about:
“The delay periods from market launch to the time that negotiated prices would take effect are nine years for so-called ‘small-molecule’ drugs, which often come in the form of tablets or capsules, and 13 years for biologics, which are typically more complex. Drug companies claim this is unfair, because the extra four years of price-setting exclusivity makes biologics more attractive.”
That means, according to Big Pharma, too much research funds allocation will go toward the more profitable biologics, harming small-molecule drug development. Instead of shortening the hold period on biologics to address this alleged imbalance, Trump’s EO extends the small-molecule drug hold and hindering Medicare’s ability to negotiate sooner.
MAGA critics of Sanders — and they are legion — often attack the Senator for allegedly being in the pocket of Big Pharma, asserting that Sanders has been the beneficiary of financial support from major players in the pharmaceutical industry.
The result is a distrust of Sanders even as he makes the kind of argument — for lower prices and better deals for Americans — that MAGA might generally agree with, as illustrated in the comment below.
This would almost be a good argument if I knew you people were not lobbied.
— Andy (@BarChefs) April 16, 2025
Sanders is well aware of the belief that he is a Big Pharma affiliate — see recent post below refuting the charge.
0 donations from pharma CEOs.
0 donations from Wall St. CEOs.
0 donations from oil company CEOs.
8 million from working people giving $27 at a time.
I am very proud of that fact.
— Bernie Sanders (@BernieSanders) January 31, 2025
During his confirmation hearings for the job as Secretary of HHS, Robert F. Kennedy Jr. made the same assertion about Sanders, which provided the Vermont Senator with a platform to respond to the charge. Sanders claimed all his donations had come from small donors and that among those donations were workers in the pharmaceutical industry.
RFK Jr. calls out Bernie Sanders for accepting Pharma donations.
pic.twitter.com/LQjY3iMja4
— The Gas Stove
Addressing the change Sanders targets, Reuters covered the Trump EO with this headline: “Trump signs healthcare executive order that includes a win for pharma companies.”
Trump, as Reuters describes it, “directed his health department on Tuesday to work with Congress on revamping a law that allows Medicare to negotiate prescription drug prices, seeking to introduce a change the pharmaceutical industry has lobbied for.”