Pfizer drug-pricing deal finalized right before deadline, WSJ reports

All major pharmaceutical companies were told by the Trump administration that they needed to lower their prices and manufacture in the U.S., or face consequences such as tariffs, Liz Essley Whyte, Jonathan Rockoff, and Peter Loftus of The Wall Street Journal reports. Pfizer (PFE) CEO Albert Bourla and Chris Klomp, head of Medicare, who was leading negotiations for the administration, met in Washington and reached a handshake agreement, with talks intensifying the week of September 20. The final deal was entered the morning prior to the deadline and was signed by Bourla and Health Secretary Robert Kennedy Jr. just ahead of the tariff announcement, people familiar with the deal said. Pfizer ended up avoiding tariffs while seeing its bottom line minimally hit.