Trump makes shock announcement on IVF set to impact millions of Americans
President Donald Trump has announced a deal that is set to slash the cost of fertility treatments for millions of Americans.In a press conference from the Oval Office, the commander-in-chief said his administration had reached a deal with the US arm of German drugmaker Merck to cut the price of its in-vitro fertilization (IVF) medications by up to 84 percent.Trump said he would also soon issue guidance encouraging employers to offer fertility benefits directly to their employees. The president said: 'We’ll dramatically slash the cost of IVF and the treatment and many of the most common fertility drugs for countless millions of Americans.'He added: 'This will make all fertility care far more affordable and accessible.'The result will be healthier pregnancies, healthier babies and, overall, a lot more American children.' Nearly 10million women in the US struggle to conceive, estimates suggest, while the average cost for one cycle of IVF is around $25,000, putting it out of reach for most couples.At the same time, many couples seeking fertility treatments require multiple rounds of IVF in order to have a successful pregnancy. Donald Trump is pictured above at the press conference today where he announced the slashing of costs for fertility treatments He is shown above flanked by the director of Medicare and Medicaid Services Dr Mehmet Oz alongside billboards put out for the conference
In the US, about 432,000 IVF cycles were carried out in 2023, resulting in 91,771 babies.The president continued: 'In the Trump administration, we want to make it easier for couples to have babies, raise children and start the families they've always dreamed of.'He added: 'As a result of these actions, the per cycle cost of drugs used in IVF will fall by an estimated 73 percent for American consumers, and the numbers are going to actually be very substantially higher as time goes by.'The administration has made a deal with EMD Serono, the US arm of the drugmaker Merck, which is also a leading manufacturer of fertility drugs.It is a major manufacturer of the drug Gonal-F, a medication used early in IVF cycles to stimulate the ovaries to release an egg. According to GoodRx, the drug is priced at about $2,400 per dose out-of-pocket in the US. For comparison, in Europe, the price is around $300.Under the deal, EMD Serono has agreed to sell its drugs directly to consumers at significantly reduced prices in exchange for tariff relief.The deal also affects its drug Ovidrel, which is administered in IVF just before an egg is retrieved, and Cetrotide, which is used in the cycle to prevent the early release of an egg. Trump is shown above at the press conference today in the Oval Office at the White HouseOverall, when all three therapies are used in a cycle, Merck said patients will receive an 84 percent discount off list prices. The drugs are expected to be available at lower prices via the federal website TrumpRx, from which they will be sold directly to consumers. Trump made the announcement today flanked by his Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F Kennedy Junior, the head of the FDA Dr Marty Makary, the head of Medicare and Medicaid Services Dr Mehmet Oz, and others involved in the push to slash the cost of IVF. It comes after the administration struck deals with pharmacy giants Pfizer and AstraZeneca over the past month to slash costs for consumers.Under the deals, both manufacturers will now sell their drugs to Medicaid, the health insurance program for lower-income Americans, at the same price as in Europe, and also offer their drugs at 'most favoured nation' prices, the same price as that in developed nations, on a direct-to-consumer federal website called TrumpRx.In return, both companies have been promised a three-year reprieve from tariffs, after the president threatened to impose a tariff of up to 15 percent on brand-name drugs from the European Union and 100 percent from other parts of the world. Trump signed an executive order in February directing the government to expand access to IVF and reduce the costs of the popular fertility treatment.IVF involves combining eggs and sperm in a laboratory dish to create an embryo for couples having difficulty conceiving. The cost can range from $12,000 to $25,000 per cycle. Shown above is a stock imge of IVF treatment, which involves combining an egg and sperm in a laboratory to create an embryo for couples having difficulty conceiving Merck is one of the world's largest manufacturers of fertility treatments. Its most popular treatment, Gonal-F, generated $973million in sales last year.The company also said it planned to seek U.S. approval for its fertility drug Pergoveris under the FDA Commissioner's National Priority Voucher, a new program intended to shorten review times to one to two months from the typical timeline of about 10-12 months.
