FOR SLASHING PRESCRIPTION DRUG PRICES, TRUMPRX MARKS THE SPOT

But patients should also understand something important: Some of those manufacturer agreements appear to last only about three years. Temporary concessions may ease pressure in the short term, but they do not solve a pricing problem decades in the making. The clock is already ticking. 

That reality makes state action more important, not less. 

Most state legislatures have already concluded their work for the year. The states still in session have a closing opportunity to act while national momentum on drug pricing remains real. Across the country, prescription drug costs have become part of a broader affordability crisis touching groceries, housing, insurance, and healthcare alike. 

Louisiana is one of the states still moving. 

Its legislature is currently considering SB 401, a proposal by Senate Insurance Committee Chairman Kirk Talbot that would create a Prescription Drug Affordability Board empowered only to gather information about high-cost drugs and report its findings publicly. The Louisiana Senate passed the bill unanimously. 

Importantly, the proposal would not impose price controls or cap prices. It is fundamentally a transparency measure — a smoke alarm, not a sprinkler. The board would identify possible affordability problems and help policymakers better understand how rising drug costs affect patients, taxpayers, employers, and the healthcare system. 

That may sound modest. It isn’t. 

Before governments can respond intelligently to rising drug prices, they first have to understand what is happening in the market. 

And there are reasons for concern.

Around Jan. 1, manufacturers reported price increases on hundreds of prescription drugs. Industry groups described the increases as modest and tied to inflation. Yet the median increase this year was roughly 4% — well above inflation, which stood closer to 2.7%. 

For families already squeezed at the grocery store and the gas pump, that difference matters. 

So does the growing burden on public programs. Louisiana taxpayers have spent roughly $1.1 billion annually on Medicaid prescription drugs in recent years, even after rebates. Nationally, Medicaid drug spending exceeds $44 billion annually. 

Meanwhile, many uninsured Americans remain directly exposed to list prices. For the roughly 308,000 uninsured Louisianans, those prices are often the actual prices patients encounter at the pharmacy counter. 

We founded Americans for Lower Drug Prices because patients are too often missing from conversations dominated by corporate stakeholders. One Baton Rouge resident we met described a career-ending spinal injury that left him in chronic pain. High drug costs did not create his suffering, but they made an already difficult life harder. Still, he works full-time. His story is not unique. 

The pharmaceutical industry argues that high prices are necessary to support innovation. Research and development are important. But that argument becomes harder to defend when Americans consistently pay more than patients in other countries for identical medicines manufactured in the same facilities. 

That is why transparency matters. 

Texas has required pharmaceutical price reporting since 2019. The federal government already requires manufacturers to disclose similar — and often more extensive — information for Medicare and Veterans Affairs programs. The Trump administration is using this type of pricing data to support its affordability efforts. 

A state asking for equivalent transparency is not engaging in radical experimentation. It is joining an effort already underway in conservative states and in Washington. 

In Louisiana, Gov. Jeff Landry, a Republican, has made rural healthcare transformation and affordability major priorities for his administration. SB 401 will be a key tool in that work by giving the state better visibility into prescription drug costs and the pressures they place on patients, small businesses, and public healthcare programs.

Predictably, pharmaceutical lobbyists have warned that even transparency measures could somehow threaten innovation or reduce patient access. Similar warnings accompanied earlier reporting requirements elsewhere. Those fears did not materialize. 

TRUMP IS RIGHT TO REBALANCE GLOBAL DRUG PRICES

Trump demonstrated that the pharmaceutical industry will move when political leaders apply enough pressure. But temporary agreements alone will not permanently fix America’s drug pricing problems. Durable accountability requires durable oversight. 

The states still in session have a chance to help build it. They should use it. 

Michael Glassner and Jason Young are co-founders of Americans for Lower Drug Prices. Over the past 10 years, Glassner has served in senior roles in President Donald Trump’s campaigns, including as deputy campaign manager (2016), chief operating officer (2020), and as a senior adviser (2024). Young served in key federal roles at the Department of Health & Human Services, the Food and Drug Administration, and the National Institutes of Health.