As investors and industry watchers juggle the twin possibilities of pharmaceutical import tariffs and potential drug pricing reform under the Trump administration, Pfizer CEO Albert Bourla, Ph.D.—who has frequently touted his strong relationship with the president—is accentuating the positive.
During a conference call to discuss Pfizer’s second-quarter results Tuesday, analysts were quick to probe the chief executive for any insights into negotiations concerning the most favored nation (MFN) drug pricing proposal President Donald Trump doubled down on last week.
While Bourla caveated that he couldn’t reveal many details, he noted that Pfizer is in “very active discussions” around MFN drug pricing and that he personally discussed the matter with the president after Trump sent letters to 17 drugmakers last week outlining steps they must take to reduce their prices in the U.S.
The company and others in the industry have also broached the topic with Department of Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services Administrator Mehmet Oz, M.D., and, at least on Pfizer’s end, those talks have been “extremely productive,” Bourla said.
“I think we understand where the president comes from, and we are engaging in a productive way to find the solution,” he explained.
MFN drug pricing—which Trump tried and failed to get off the ground during his first term—seeks to match the costs of certain prescription drugs in the U.S. to lower prices offered in other developed nations.
In the letters shipped out last week, a slate of major drugmakers were urged to implement changes to their U.S. pricing schemes, which include offering MFN pricing to “every single Medicaid patient,” pledging not to undercut the U.S. when setting prices in other countries and pursuing direct-to-consumer sales, according to a White House fact sheet issued last Thursday.
Bourla admitted that the MFN letter “asks a lot from us,” but he said that, “in general, I’m happy with the way that they listen to us and the way that we have tried collectively to find solutions.”
“On one hand, it would make medicines affordable in the U.S.,” Bourla said of the MFN proposal. “On the other hand, it will make our industry even more competitive compared to China, which is progressing very rapidly.”
On direct marketing, Pfizer has already dipped its toes into DTC sales with its PfizerForAll program and the Eliquis 360 platform it set up with partner Bristol Myers Squibb, with the latter sales portal largely aligning with the Trump administration's suggestions, Bourla said.
The industry is willing and eager to test the approach, Bourla said, adding that pharma companies are “all ready to roll up their sleeves and execute something like that.”
The topic of proposed pharmaceutical import tariffs also came up on the call, with Bourla noting that Pfizer, like others, is waiting for the results of the administration’s Section 232 investigation into the national security implications of pharmaceutical imports.
Meanwhile, neither drug pricing reforms nor tariffs should take a toll on Pfizer’s financial performance for the year.
“With the work that’s going on across the industry, we’re able to come up with a range of scenarios, and we believe that those … scenarios associated with the potential timing of all this would allow us to absorb any impact this year,” Pfizer’s finance chief, David Denton, said on the call.
For the full year, Pfizer is sticking by its previously forecast sales range of $61 billion to $64 billion, the company noted in an earnings release. At the same time, the company has raised its earnings per share guidance by 10 cents on both ends of the forecast range to between $2.90 and $3.10.
The company reported $14.7 billion in second-quarter revenue, growing sales 10% over the sum it brought home for the period in 2024.
Pfizer credited that growth in large part to the performance of its Vyndaqel franchise in amyloidosis, which grew sales 21% during the quarter, plus delivery of COVID vaccine contracts and strong sales of carcinoma med Padcev, thrombosis drug Eliquis, RSV vaccine Abrysvo and Lorbrena for lung cancer.