FILE PHOTO: A person walks outside of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services building after it was reported that the HHS will cut about 10,000 full-time jobs and close half of its regional offices, a major overhaul of the department under Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., in Washington, D.C., U.S., March 27, 2025. REUTERS/Leah Millis/File Photo

By Patrick Wingrove

NEW YORK (Reuters) -The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services and Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services on Thursday sent the White House the details of a drug pricing pilot for official review, according to a government website.

The pilot, titled Global Benchmark for Efficient Drug Pricing (GLOBE) Model, will need to be cleared by the White House's Office of Management and Budget before it is implemented.

HHS declined to comment on the details of the pilot, but two drugmaker lobbyists who requested anonymity said they expected it to echo a 2020 Trump rule tying Medicare pay for 50 drugs to the lowest prices in select countries.

U.S. President Donald Trump in May signed a wide-reaching executive order directing drugmakers to lower the prices of medicines to align with what other countries pay.

The U.S. pays more for prescription drugs than any other country, often nearly three times as much as other developed nations, and Trump has repeatedly said he wants to narrow this gap to stop Americans from being "ripped off."

Trump tried in his first term to bring the U.S. in line with other countries but was blocked by the courts.

(Reporting by Patrick Wingrove, Editing by Franklin Paul and Nick Zieminski)