President Donald Trump’s call for 100% tariffs
on branded and patented drug imports could raise prices for Americans,
though many manufacturers could avoid the levies thanks to their
investments in the US. But
India, often called the “pharmacy of the world,” is a major supplier of
cheaper generic drugs and has largely been exempt from tariffs. The US
is its biggest export market, which was worth about $9 billion in 2024,
according to the UN Comtrade Database. India’s generic drugs supplies were spared by Trump’s tariff announcement last week but he told CNBC in
August that levies on imported medicines could end up facing levies as
high as 250% over time. This means there’s no immunity per se for the
non-patented drugs.
To add to that, India has been in Trump’s crosshairs in the past few months. In August, he sharply increased tariffs on Indian goods in retaliation for its purchases of Russian oil. Any
levy on Indian drug supplies could sharply increase prices of oral
contraceptives in the US, which now generally cost less than $50, according to Planned Parenthood. Two-thirds
of all birth control pills prescribed in the US last year were
manufactured by just two companies in India, Glenmark Pharmaceuticals
and Lupin, according to a Bloomberg News analysis of Symphony Health data. Soaring
duties on imports could deter companies from prioritizing the
contraceptives market, especially for low-margin generics, says Kim Villanueva,
president of the National Organization for Women in Washington. This
would result in women paying more for the pills and their insurance
premiums, she says. With
wafer-thin margins due to intense price competition, Indian firms are
“hardly at a position to absorb” any tariffs, so they might stop
making certain therapies for the US, according to Bloomberg
Intelligence’s Ann-Hunter van Kirk. And though the Trump administration has been seeking to lower drug prices, birth control might not be a priority, she says, since Republicans have fought to limit reproductive rights. Birth
control pills may not be the only medication to feel price pressures.
More than half the US prescriptions for hypertension and depression
treatments come from Indian generic drugmakers, Symphony data shows. |