STAT+: Pharmalittle: We're reading about Trump team moving on pharma tariffs, PBMs under pressure, and more

Hello, everyone, and how are you today? We are just fine, thank you, despite gloomy skies hovering over the sleepy Pharmalot campus. Our spirits remain sunny thanks, in part, to sage advice from the Morning Mayor: “Every new day should be unwrapped like a precious gift.” So while you tug on the ribbon, we will indulge in a few more cups of stimulation — our choice today is maple bourbon — and continue our quest for items of interest. Speaking of which, here are some tidbits. Hope your day is simply smashing, and do drop us a line when interesting developments pop up in your vicinity. …

The Trump administration disclosed it formally opened an investigation into the extent to which the importation of certain pharmaceuticals may threaten national security, a move that is a widely anticipated prelude to imposing tariffs on a potentially large number of medicines, STAT writes. In a Federal Register notice, the U.S. Department of Commerce noted a so-called 232 investigation actually began on April 1 and encompasses not only medicines, but also active pharmaceutical ingredients and key starting materials, as well as derivative products. President Trump has already indicated tariffs on pharmaceuticals are expected in the coming weeks. The probe will examine current and projected demand for pharmaceuticals and ingredients in the U.S., whether domestic production can meet demand, the role of foreign supply chains in meeting U.S demand, and the concentration of imports from a small number of suppliers and any associated risks.

Popular Western medicines for diseases including cancer and diabetes have been caught in the escalating U.S.-China trade war, a Reuters review of Chinese regulator data showed, and threaten to add to drugmaker costs. China announced on Friday that it would raise its levies on imports of U.S. goods to 125%, hitting back at U.S. President Trump’s decision to single out the world’s second-largest economy for higher duties. Big pharmaceutical companies including AstraZeneca, Sanofi, GSK, and Eli Lilly have at least one U.S. manufacturing site for their drugs sold in China, records from China’s National Medical Products Administration showed. The records reviewed did not detail how much of the U.S. production was being sent to China. Experts said China’s tariffs on U.S. products could lead to increased prices or limited supply of some drugs.

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