United States President Donald Trump has announced that he will sign an executive order aimed at reducing the cost of prescription drugs and other pharmaceutical products in the country.
The announcement came on Sunday through a message he shared on social media.
According to Trump, the new order will lead to drug prices in the U.S. dropping by as much as 30 to 80 percent.
He stated that the move is meant to bring fairness to Americans, as medicine prices in the country are usually higher compared to other parts of the world.
The executive order is scheduled to be signed at 9 a.m. on Monday in Washington, D.C.
The U.S. has no central system that controls how much drug manufacturers can charge, so prices are often determined by pharmaceutical companies themselves.
This has led to higher costs for many medicines, making it hard for people to afford basic treatments.
Trump had tried to address this issue during his first term in office by proposing discounts on essential drugs such as insulin for low-income individuals.
He also pushed for a plan to use international prices to guide how much the government pays for some drugs through the Medicare programme.
However, those efforts faced legal and political resistance and were never put into action.
This time, Trump plans to use a “most favoured nation” policy.
The idea is to make sure that the U.S. does not pay more for a drug than the country where it is sold at the lowest price.
He said this will help stop pharmaceutical companies from charging Americans much more than people in other nations.
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