Quick News Spot

Trump announces deal to reduce cost of specific IVF medication


Trump announces deal to reduce cost of specific IVF medication

ISABELLA MURRAY, MARY KEKATOS, LIZ NEPORENT and DR. CYRUS MOWDAWALLA

President Donald Trump announced a deal on Thursday between his administration and pharmaceutical company EMD Serono to reduce the cost of some fertility medications.

Senior administration officials have said this deal will help millions of American women struggling to conceive with their ability to afford the expensive treatment.

Trump pledged to expand IVF access for Americans struggling to start families -- making it a point of his presidential campaign. In February, he signed an executive order looking into how to lower costs and reduce barriers to IVF.

This deal "delivers on the president's pledge," an official said.

Inside IVF mix-ups that left women carrying embryos that weren't theirs

"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 out," Trump said during an announcement from the Oval Office.

Trump said EMD Serono, the largest fertility drug manufacturer in the world, has agreed to provide discounts for the cost of fertility drugs the company sells in the U.S., including its most popular, Gonal-f, which treats infertility in women and men.

Officials told ABC News a fertility drug typically costs between $5,000 and $6,000 per cycle, the officials said, and only about 30% of families have access to some sort of employer-based coverage.

Trump said EMD Serono will list its fertility drugs online at "very, very heavily reduced prices."

"We're pleased to announce that, depending on the patient's income, the cost of drugs for a standard IVF cycle of infertility will decrease somewhere between 42 and 79% for families," an official said, and "based on the results of this negotiation."

The official said those drugs will be available in early 2026.

In 2024, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) stated the cost for a single cycle of IVF can range from $15,000 to $20,000, and can surpass $30,000 if a donor egg is involved.

The average number of cycles needed to become pregnant from IVF is 2.5, meaning the average cost of IVF to conceive successfully can exceed $40,000, according to the HHS.

A woman gave birth to a baby through IVF. Then she had to give him up, lawsuit says

In May, Trump signed an executive order to pressure companies to only charge U.S. patients the same rate as they charge in other countries, an effort called "most favored nation" pricing.

This kicked off a monthslong campaign to pressure pharmaceutical companies to drop their prices voluntarily, without regulation.

The White House also said that the two specialty pharmacies that account for more than 80% of the distribution of the drug -- CVS Specialty Pharmacy and Express Scripts Freedom Fertility Pharmacy -- told the administration they would "materially reduce their expenses associated with the handling of this drug, while still ensuring access to all families who wish to use it."

RFK JR. claims declining birth rates are caused by endocrine disruptors

During the White House press briefing on Thursday, HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. claimed that declining birth rates are caused by endocrine disruptors.

"When my uncle was president, the fertility rate in this country was 3.5%. Today, it is 1.6%. The replacement rate, in other words, the amount of fertility that you need in order to keep your population even is 2.1%. We are below replacement, right now," Kennedy said. "That is a national security threat to our country, and we know why the is happening. And President Trump is addressing the root causes through his MAHA agenda of reducing endocrine disruptors, the exposures, the chemicals that decrease fertility."

Numerous studies, including a recent paper in Fertility and Sterility, say that social and economic factors, including delayed childbearing, the high cost of raising children, cultural shifts, access to contraception, and lifestyle changes remain the most likely explanations for lower birth rates over the past 50 years.

A large review of survey and census data suggests that higher education, employment demands, urban living and economic instability are the main factors linked with lower facility rates. And a 2024 Pew survey of young adults who say they are unlikely to have children, more than 36% cite unaffordability as the main reason.

Endocrine disruptors are chemicals that interfere with the body's hormones, which regulate growth, reproduction, metabolism, and development.

Some research suggests that these chemicals can impair fertility in both animals and humans. A recent Scientific Reports paper found an association between higher exposure levels and reduced sperm quality, poorer IVF outcomes, and increased infertility risk, but did not find that they are the main cause of a decline in fertility.

Kennedy has made similar claims since at least 2022, when he told podcaster Jordan Peterson that we're "swimming through a soup of toxic chemicals ... many of those are endocrine disruptors," citing a frog study on atrazine that "chemically castrated and forcibly feminized ... male frogs." He then added, without offering proof, "If it's doing that to frogs, there's a lot of other evidence it's doing it to human beings as well."

Previous articleNext article

POPULAR CATEGORY

corporate

5590

entertainment

6802

research

3356

misc

6642

wellness

5593

athletics

7110