The Trump administration has been unrelenting in its campaign to lower drug prices and onshoring the pharmaceutical industry's supply chain. On Thursday, a special adviser to the Trump administration doubled down on both of the administration's goals.

Calley Means, special adviser to HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., said that while Trump isn't trying to mandate certain pricing, the administration will continue to pursue prices in line with Europe — but stopping short of mandating a specific price.

"I really don't think it's the government's role to even say what the price should be. We just don't want to pay more than other developed countries," Means said at a joint US pharma and biotech summit hosted by the Financial Times and Endpoints News in New York.

He also had a message for companies like Roche (RHHBY) that are threatening to pull billions in manufacturing commitments: "That is morally reprehensible. Go ahead and do it."

He added: "Holding an economic gun to the head when this administration is trying to accomplish the urgent goal of reversing the existential crisis of chronic disease and the existential budgetary crisis ... and try to come in and have an economic argument with that, completely unacceptable..."Just say no to high drug prices: US entrepreneur and special government employee for Health and Human Services Calley Means speaks during a news conference at the Health and Human Services Department on April 22 in Washington, D.C. (Andrew Harnik/Getty Images)·Andrew Harnik via Getty Images

The administration has already levied some tariffs affecting medical devices and is threatening a roughly 20% tariff on medicines made outside the US. In addition, Trump signed an executive order (EO) this week known as Most Favored Nation, which would force companies to sell treatments in the US at the same price as the lowest sold in any developed nation.

Before the EO, manufacturers announced tens of billions of dollars in commitments to onshore manufacturing and other parts of the supply chain, crediting Trump's prior administration for inspiring those efforts in 2020.

Roche has proposed one of the largest commitments, $50 billion, along with Johnson & Johnson (JNJ) with $55 billion and Eli Lilly (LLY) committing to $27 billion, for a total of $50 billion since 2020.

But after the EO, AstraZeneca (AZN) struck back.

"We share President Trump's commitment to ensuring that the cost of pharmaceutical innovation is fairly shared among high-income nations," the company said in a statement Monday. "A Most Favored Nation pricing policy would need to be implemented with thorough stakeholder engagement and robust systems to avoid it risking disrupting patient care, undermining U.S. leadership in biotechnology, and stifling the innovation that drives global health advancements."

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It appears others are losing patience in the face of ongoing pressure — and the apparent failure to appease Trump and force him to back away from his efforts.

In addition to Roche's threat to rethink the move, Eli Lilly's CEO previously said that the threat of tariffs has been enough to motivate the industry and that Trump should "declare victory and move on."

Anjalee Khemlani is the senior health reporter at Yahoo Finance, covering all things pharma, insurance, care services, digital health, PBMs, and health policy and politics. That includes GLP-1s, of course. Follow Anjalee as AnjKhem on social media platforms X, LinkedIn, and Bluesky @AnjKhem.

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