Dr. Mehmet Oz defended the Trump administration’s groundbreaking agreement with Pfizer on Tuesday, telling Newsmax the pharmaceutical giant “had no choice” but to accept sweeping drug price cuts for the sake of American consumers.
On “Finnerty,” Oz, administrator of the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, explained that the deal, which requires Pfizer to reduce prices for Medicaid by up to 80%, was the product of months of pressure and negotiation orchestrated by President Donald Trump.
Oz was asked why Pfizer didn’t take this step before Tuesday.
“They could have. Every pharmaceutical company has the right to lower their prices, but why would they? They’re in the business of making money for their shareholders,” Oz said. “With the president’s pressure on the process, we were able to get the deal done.”
Oz emphasized that Americans have long been exploited by large pharmaceutical companies, paying far more for the same drugs than people in other developed nations.
“We are paying and have been paying three times more, on average, than every other developed country in the world,” Oz said. “Americans, viewers right now, when they go to the drugstore, one-third of the time cannot pick up their drugs because of sticker shock. Americans now are literally deciding between groceries and their medications.”
Oz said such realities make it impossible to run Medicare and Medicaid efficiently since patients cannot adhere to treatment when drugs aren’t affordable. He credited Pfizer CEO Albert Bourla for recognizing the inevitability of reform.
“Pfizer needed to go in this direction to address the president’s appropriate concerns and avoid tariffs, avoid all the other maneuvers we had in place to coerce this process — but do it in a way that’s free market.
“We don’t want to have price caps. We want to let people keep their innovation, but fairly price their drugs,” Oz said.
He added that Pfizer’s willingness to move first sets a precedent for the entire pharmaceutical industry, which he expects will follow suit.
“The fact that [Bourla] went and understood there was no other choice. … I’m proud of that,” Oz said. “The president has set a new standard for how you get things done in government — how you get companies to voluntarily give up billions of dollars, because they know that if they don’t, they’re going to compromise themselves in the future.”
He added, “Obviously, there’s lots of gives and takes. No one willingly parts with that kind of money.”
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