Teva, Astellas among nine drugmakers joining White House lowest-price Medicaid deals

The White House said on August 31, 2026 that nine additional manufacturers agreed to sell medicines to state Medicaid programs at most-favored-nation prices, meaning the lowest price a company charges in other developed countries ^[1][2]. By the administration's own count, the program now covers 26 companies, which it says represent 89 percent of the branded drug market ^[2].

The new signers are Alcon, Astellas Pharma, BeOne Medicines, BridgeBio, CSL, Kyowa Kirin, Sun Pharma, Teva Pharmaceuticals and UCB ^[2]. Accounts of the Oval Office event differed. Reuters named Astellas, BeOne, CSL, BridgeBio, Sun Pharmaceutical and UCB as signing and reported that Teva said in its own press release that it was still in discussions with the administration about a possible agreement ^[1]. The trade account published the same day listed Teva among the nine that joined ^[2]. Which version is correct has not been publicly settled.

Terms remain largely undisclosed. It is not clear how many products the agreements cover or how large the discounts are, leaving the savings for the government or for patients unknown ^[1]. No contract details were released, and some companies described parts of the terms as private ^[1].

The administration says the medicines involved treat hemophilia, Parkinson's disease, macular degeneration, glaucoma, liver disease, skin conditions and several forms of cancer ^[2]. The companies also committed at least $19.6 billion to near-term U.S. manufacturing, and several pledged raw ingredients for a federal stockpile: 163 tons of the seizure drug levetiracetam from UCB; 71.4 tons of the antibiotic clindamycin and 6.75 tons of doxycycline from Sun Pharma; 45 metric tons of metronidazole, an antibiotic and antiprotozoal, plus 4.8 tons of the blood pressure drug amlodipine from Teva; and 25 kilograms of the immune-suppressing drug tacrolimus from Astellas ^[2].

These agreements sit on top of deals reached with 17 large drugmakers, among them Pfizer, Eli Lilly and Novo Nordisk, starting last year. Those companies accepted some federal price cuts and agreed to sell certain medicines directly to patients through a Trump-branded website in exchange for tariff relief ^[1]. Whether the smaller companies have similar direct-sales arrangements has not been disclosed ^[1].

The administration has put ten-year federal and state savings from its broader pricing push at $64.3 billion, a figure Reuters described as speculative ^[1]. Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services Administrator Mehmet Oz said 600,000 seniors have sought prescriptions through a temporary pilot that began July 1 ^[1].

Not everyone sees much relief in the announcements. Medicaid already gets steep discounts under existing law, and most people covered by the program pay little out of pocket for prescriptions ^[1]. "The new deals are a distraction from the administration's failed plan to lower U.S. drug prices to the levels paid in other wealthy countries," said Peter Maybarduk, access to medicines director at the consumer group Public Citizen ^[1].

Why it matters for patients

Medicaid enrollees typically pay between $4 and $8 at the pharmacy counter, and the effect of these voluntary arrangements lands on manufacturers rather than on those copays, according to Lindsay Bealor Greenleaf, head of market access policy strategy at the consulting firm ADVI ^[2]. She said patient out-of-pocket costs and access are not necessarily affected ^[2].

For everyone else, there is little concrete to check yet. Because no product list or discounted price has been published, a patient cannot currently verify whether a medicine they take is included ^[1]. Nothing announced on August 31 addresses prices for people with employer coverage or individual insurance; the agreements as described apply to state Medicaid programs ^[1][2].

The GLP-1 medicines that have drawn the most attention belong to the earlier round of deals, not this one. Reuters said the biggest savings so far have come from weight-loss drugs made by Novo Nordisk and Eli Lilly, which agreed to price cuts in return for their medicines being made more available through Medicare ^[1]. The report did not name the individual products involved.

What happens next

The administration is pressing Congress to pass the Great Healthcare Plan, a broader package covering drug prices, insurance premiums and price transparency. That depends on lawmakers rather than on the company-by-company agreements signed so far ^[2]. No date has been reported for when most-favored-nation prices for the nine new companies' products take effect ^[1]. Teva's status also remains unresolved in public accounts, with Reuters reporting ongoing talks ^[1] and the trade report listing it as a signer ^[2].