New Delhi: India’s largest pharmaceutical company, Sun Pharmaceutical Industries, has entered into an agreement with the United States government to provide medicines at lower prices to American patients, marking a significant expansion of its role in the US healthcare market.
Under the agreement, Sun Pharma will offer Most Favoured Nation (MFN) pricing to state Medicaid programmes across the United States. The arrangement is designed to ensure that eligible buyers can access medicines at the lowest available prices. The pricing commitment will also extend to Sun Pharma’s future launches of innovative medicines in the US market.
The agreement comes as the US administration seeks to bring down prescription drug costs. According to Reuters, the United States has entered into pricing agreements with more than 20 pharmaceutical companies as part of efforts to make medicines more affordable for American patients.
As part of the arrangement with Sun Pharma, the US government has also delayed the imposition of Section 232 tariffs on the company’s innovative products by more than two years. The decision recognises Sun Pharma’s investments in the United States, although the company did not disclose further details of the agreement.
Sun Pharma’s North America CEO Rick Ascroft, who represented the company at the White House, said the US remains a crucial market for the company’s investment and expansion plans. These include clinical development, sales and marketing, as well as manufacturing of active pharmaceutical ingredients (APIs) and finished medicines.
The US is already Sun Pharma’s largest market for innovative medicines, contributing around 27 per cent of the company’s global revenue. The Indian pharmaceutical major has been steadily expanding its presence in the American market, particularly in specialised healthcare segments.
Sun Pharma currently ranks second in the US dermatology market by prescriptions and is expanding into areas including immunology, cutaneous oncology and ophthalmology. Its portfolio of innovative medicines accounts for around 22 per cent of the company’s total sales globally.
The company has also significantly strengthened its international footprint through acquisitions. Earlier this year, Sun Pharma announced a definitive agreement to acquire Organon & Co. for an enterprise value of $11.75 billion, further expanding its global pharmaceutical operations.
