Huons: "Trump's Drug Price Cut Policy to Have Limited Impact on U.S. Exports"

Huons stated on May 13 that the impact of the Trump administration's executive order to lower prescription drug prices on the export of Huons' main product, local anesthetics, to the United States would be limited.

According to the White House, President Donald Trump signed an executive order on May 12 (local time) instructing the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services to lower the prices of prescription drugs in the United States to the level at which they are sold in other advanced countries.

According to explanatory materials from the White House, President Trump signed the executive order to lower drug prices, citing the fact that the prices of prescription drugs sold in the United States are more than three times higher than the prices paid by countries in the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), among other reasons.

The Trump administration has required the Department of Health and Human Services to set new drug prices within 30 days. If price reductions are not implemented, the government plans to limit the amount it pays for these drugs.

Currently, Huons holds FDA approvals for a total of seven products, including saline injection solutions and lidocaine injection solutions. On May 5, the company obtained approval for 1% and 2% lidocaine injection multi-dose vials.

Huons' main product, lidocaine, is included in the World Health Organization (WHO) List of Essential Medicines and is also listed on the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) Drug Shortages List.

A Huons representative said, "The key points of this executive order are the improvement of the pharmacy benefit manager (PBM) structure and drug price reductions. The specific drugs subject to price cuts have not yet been announced, but it is expected that the main targets will be high-priced drugs that have a large price gap and account for significant spending." The representative added, "We understand that, compared to high-priced drugs, the price difference for local anesthetics such as lidocaine between the United States and advanced countries like those in Europe is not significant. Therefore, we believe the impact on Huons' main export product, local anesthetics, will be limited."