Drugmaker Bristol Myers Squibb is set to release a new schizophrenia treatment in the United Kingdom for the same price it’s listed in the United States, a decision that will certainly please those in the White House who have fought to get Americans the same prices offered overseas.
The announcement, made by Bristol on Monday, follows a push from President Donald Trump for U.S. drugmakers to lower prescription drugs for Americans to the greatest extent possible. Bristol’s approach to the United Kingdom market aligns with the White House’s strategy to secure lower drug prices in the United States.
The pharmaceutical company has never before brought its price for a drug to parity across the United States and United Kingdom. Adam Lenkowsky, chief commercialization officer at Bristol, said that the drug company is prepared to pull its drug, Cobenfy, from the European nation’s market if the relevant government authorities do not agree to the price listed in the United States, at $1,850 a month.
“Our intention is to work with NICE and NHS to make this medicine available, but we are prepared to make the difficult decision to walk away if they cannot better recognize the value our medicine brings to patients and society,” Lenkowsky said in a statement.
“We agree with the Trump Administration that other countries need to pay their fair share,” he added.
Cobenfy has not yet been approved for sale in the United Kingdom. Bristol plans to file for approval in the coming weeks and expects to receive approval sometime next year, according to the Financial Times.
Last year, the research group RAND found that Americans pay significantly more for prescription drugs than other countries. The research pegged the inflated price at 2.78 times what is charged in other countries.
The Trump administration is determined to end that trend, and has pointed to drug manufacturers.
“The United States has less than five percent of the world’s population and yet funds around three quarters of global pharmaceutical profits,” a May 12 White House executive order on drug prices says. “This egregious imbalance is orchestrated through a purposeful scheme in which drug manufacturers deeply discount their products to access foreign markets, and subsidize that decrease through enormously high prices in the United States.”
The order aims to pressure drugmakers to push for parity between prices for its drugs in the United States and elsewhere in the world. The president last week said that other countries have treated Americans unfairly when it comes to drug prices.
“For years, we’ve been paying for a pill $100 and they’re paying $10,” the president said on Fox News last week. Trump suggested he intends to pressure other countries into raising drug prices to offset the costs of making new drugs for Americans.
“The drug companies agree that I’m right, and the countries, if they don’t agree, I’ll use tariffs to get them to agree,” Trump said. “We’re going to be reducing drug costs over the next year, year and a half by not 50% or 60%, by 1,000% … You’re talking about a monumental change in health care that’s going to affect Medicare, Medicaid, even Social Security.”
.@POTUS: “For years, we’ve been paying sometimes for a pill, $100, and [other countries] are paying $10… We’re going to be reducing drug costs over the next year, year and a half… You’re talking about a monumental change in healthcare.” pic.twitter.com/Pxnj8vU1hc
— Rapid Response 47 (@RapidResponse47) September 18, 2025