Donald Trump, always one to tout his knack for dealmaking, declared on Tuesday that he’d just struck one of his best deals ever. “This is one of the biggest medical announcements that this office has ever made,” Trump said in the Oval Office, flanked by his top health officials. They’d gathered to announce that the administration had cut a deal with the pharmaceutical giant Pfizer. Trump couldn’t help but smirk. “I’m surprised you’re agreeing to this,” he told Albert Bourla, the CEO of Pfizer.
Even drug-industry lobbyists are reportedly surprised by what Pfizer agreed to. The company has a history of outmaneuvering Trump’s attempts to lower drug costs, yet it pledged to cut the costs of its drugs in the United States to match the lower prices it charges other developed countries. Pfizer a