The United States Lifts Tariffs on UK Pharmaceutical Imports

The United Kingdom and the United States announced a new agreement that removes US tariffs on pharmaceutical products exported from the United Kingdom. The deal, part of the UK-US Economic Prosperity framework, makes the United Kingdom the only nation with a guaranteed zero tariff on pharmaceutical exports to the United States.

“Today, the United States and the United Kingdom announce this negotiated outcome pricing for innovative pharmaceuticals, which will help drive investment and innovation in both countries,” says Jamieson Greer, US Trade Representative.

The United States has committed to excluding UK-made pharmaceuticals, active ingredients, and medical technologies from Section 232 tariffs, and will not scrutinize UK drug-pricing policies under Section 301 for the remainder of President Donald Trump’s term. The United States has also pledged to support continued access for UK patients to new pharmaceutical innovations.

“We are entering an era of preventions and cures, and this landmark deal will ensure British patients are among the first in the world to access them,” says Lord Vallance, UK Science Minister. 

The UK government has presented the new agreement as a measure that will benefit tens of thousands of National Health Service (NHS) patients by expanding access to essential medicines and preserving the availability of innovative therapies.

“This vital deal will ensure UK patients get the cutting-edge medicines they need sooner, and our world-leading UK firms keep developing the treatments that can change lives,” says Liz Kendall, UK Minister of Science and Technology.

As part of the broader strategy, the United Kingdom will increase its investment in treatments by about 25%, the first rise of this scale in more than 20 years. This increase will enable the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence to approve drugs that offer significant clinical outcomes but may not previously have met cost-effectiveness thresholds, including therapies for cancer and rare diseases.

The United States argues that, for many years, its patients have subsidized the cost of prescription drugs and biologics in other developed countries by paying significantly higher prices for the same products. “Americans should not pay the world’s highest drug costs for medicines they helped fund,” says Robert Kennedy Jr., US Secretary of Health and Human Services.

The deal is supported by mitigations the United Kingdom secured under the US “Most Favoured Nation” pricing initiative, which will help maintain access to new medicines. This is expected to encourage global pharmaceutical companies to prioritize early launches in the United Kingdom, continuing a long-standing pattern in which the NHS has been among the first to adopt new treatments. Past examples include Blenrep for multiple myeloma, Kimmtrak for eye cancer, and the leukemia therapy Aucatzyl.

“The agreement follows the initial rollout of President Trump’s most-favored-nation pharmaceutical pricing policy, introduced less than two months ago, and reflects the administration’s ongoing efforts to reduce drug prices in the United States,” says Chris Klomp, Director, Medicare. 

UK officials say the trade deal advances goals set out in the government’s 10 Year Health Plan and the Life Sciences Sector Plan, both of which identify the industry as central to economic growth. Investments from multinational drugmakers including Moderna, Bristol Myers Squibb, (BMS) and BioNTech have reinforced confidence in the UK market and support the government’s objective of becoming the European Union’s leading life sciences economy by 2030.

“BMS anticipates being able to invest upwards of £500 million (US$661 million) over the next five years. This investment will come across multiple areas of the business, including research, development, and manufacturing,” says Chris Boerner, Board Chair and CEO, BMS.

In the United Kingdom, regulatory changes are advancing as the Department of Health and Social Care moves to reduce clinical trial approval times from 91 to 41 days, an effort intended to speed research and expand patient access to investigational treatments.