One of the keys to cutting the cost of drugs in the United States is to raise their cost in other countries, Eli Lilly CEO David Ricks said Tuesday in an interview at the Economic Club of Washington, D.C.
Ricks added that accomplishing this goal will be one of the focuses of the incoming administration of President Donald Trump in his efforts surrounding healthcare.
“We have to raise developed countries, what they pay, and we can lower the U.S.,” Ricks said. “I think that’s a policy argument we’ll hear about soon with the new administration.”
Last week, Ricks was one of the guests at a dinner hosted by Trump at his Mar-a-Lago residence. The event also included Pfizer CEO Albert Bourla, PhRMA CEO Stephen Ubl, Health and Human Services secretary nominee Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and incoming chief of staff Susie Wiles.
Ricks didn’t reveal much about what was discussed at the dinner, which spanned nearly three hours, according to Axios. But he did suggest that the tone was positive and constructive.
“My experience, having done this for eight years, is there’s often more common ground than you’d think, just reading the newspapers,” Ricks said.
Over the last few years, President Joe Biden’s Inflation Reduction Act—and specifically its Medicare price negotiations—have been a point of contention between the industry and the government.
There hasn’t been much clarity on how Trump will approach drug costs. He has threatened to roll back parts of the IRA but he could also consider accelerating or expanding the price negotiations, according to S&P Global in a recent report, citing “bi-partisan support for lowering drug spending and his earlier expressed support for Medicare drug pricing negotiation.”
Ricks also said that another key topic for the incoming administration would be “the regulatory situation, which I think has evolved for us, in our industry, in a negative way in the last four years.”
Forging private and public sector collaborations to find cures for cancer was one of the subjects Trump addressed with the healthcare CEOs at the dinner, according to Axios.
Much of Ricks’ discussion on Tuesday surrounded the company’s success with sales of its diabetes and obesity drugs and its competition with Novo Nordisk.
“I think both our’s and our competitors’ drugs will easily be the biggest-selling drugs in the U.S. next year,” Ricks said.
Ricks drew the biggest laugh of the afternoon when he was asked by interviewer David Rubenstein, who is co-founder of the Carlisle Group and president of the Economic Club of Washington, D.C., if the food served at the Trump dinner was “fattening.”
“Probably shouldn’t say too much about it,” Ricks said. “But it was all you could imagine—and a little bit more.”