President Donald Trump announced Monday that nine additional pharmaceutical companies have signed “Most Favored Nation” pricing agreements, expanding the administration's effort to lower prescription drug costs for Americans.

The new deals with Alcon, Astellas Pharma, BeOne Medicines, BridgeBio, CSL, Kyowa Kirin, Sun Pharma, Teva Pharmaceuticals, and UCB bring the total number of participating manufacturers to 26.

These companies represent approximately 89% of the branded drug market, according to the Trump Administration.

Patients have already realized substantial savings through the TrumpRx.gov platform launched earlier this year.

Specific price drops include GLP-1 medications such as Ozempic and Wegovy, which fell from over $1,000 per month to as low as $149 per month, depending on dosage.

Zepbound prices have dropped to an average of about $346 per month. Insulin products from participating companies are available on the platform for $35 per month.

Fertility drugs like Gonal-F and Cetrotide have seen cuts exceeding 80% in some cases.

The administration says that prescription drug prices declined 3.9% since President Trump took office, marking the largest annual drop in more than 60 years.

Seniors without coverage for certain obesity treatments gained access to these treatments for $50 per month in July, resulting in over 500,000 beneficiaries saving $216 million in the first two months.

The deals require companies to offer drugs to state Medicaid programs at Most-Favored-Nation prices, which is expected to generate billions in savings for taxpayers and the most vulnerable Americans.

Where did “Most Favored Nation” Come From?

In recent years, the term “Most Favored Nation” has become a phrase in tandem with Trump’s mission to reduce prescription drug prices; however, its application long predates the administration’s use of it as an umbrella term.

According to GovFacts:

“Most Favored Nation is a rule of nondiscrimination enshrined in the agreements of the World Trade Organization. It mandates that a country must treat all its trading partners equally. If a WTO member country grants a special trade advantage to any one country– such as a lower customs duty on an imported product – it must extend that same advantage “immediately and unconditionally” to all other WTO members.”

This method is meant to ensure that every member country is entitled to the same treatment as the single “most favored” nation.

Implementation is important, as this creates a stable, predictable, and fair global trading environment, allowing businesses to make long-term investment and operational decisions with confidence.

With that definition in mind, the discrepancy of Americans paying far more for prescription drugs than citizens of any other developed country becomes more pronounced.

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services found that, on average, U.S. drug prices are nearly three times higher than those in comparable nations; hence, the Trump Administration has spearheaded the initiative to even the playing field.

How Will it Affect the Average Consumer?

Ultimately, these changes are implemented to help ease the ever-increasing cost of pharmaceutical drugs for the average consumer, opening up alternatives for those with little to no healthcare coverage.

However, experts say that this announcement may not be as effective as the Trump Administration says it is, as the changes apply to Medicaid, and most Medicaid users already don’t pay very much for drugs.

According to Luca Maini, assistant professor of health care policy at Harvard Medical School, the announcement does mean that state and federal governments will see some savings, which will be welcomed as they face big cuts from H.R. 1, also referred to as the One Big Beautiful Bill Act.

“The main benefit here is not to the patients using the drugs, but to the fiscal health of the program,” Maini said in an interview with TIME.

Evidence-based research titled “The impact of the United States most favored nation policies on prices of branded medicines and research and development” suggests that the benefits of the U.S. Most Favored Nation deal are short-term, as companies will raise prices in other countries so that the prices that the U.S. compares its prices to will be higher.

The White House has held several high-profile events with pharmaceutical executives this year to promote its efforts on healthcare costs, as part of a broader push to highlight affordability before this year's midterm elections, which will decide control of Congress.

The administration has said its broader drug pricing push, including the earlier deals with large pharmaceutical companies, could save $64.3 billion in federal and state spending over the next decade, but that number is speculative.