00:00So I want to thank you all for being here, and maybe I'll ask a couple of you to say
00:05a few words.
00:06We'll start maybe Oz and Bobby, do you want to say something, please?
00:09And then we'll ask some of the CEOs to talk, please.
00:13Thank you very much, President Trump, for your leadership.
00:17Today brings to the total of 26 companies that have now made agreements with us.
00:22Because these agreements cover nine out of the ten drugs that are used by Americans.
00:30This is going to have a dramatic impact on medical pricing and on public health in our country.
00:38Probably the biggest change in public health prior to this, and as dwarfed by this announcement,
00:46and it was in 1962 when my uncle signed the amendment to the Food, Drug, and Cosmetics Act.
00:54And that signing was triggered by the thalidomide scandal.
01:01Thalidomide was a drug that was used widely in Europe and the rest of the world to treat morning sickness.
01:06It turned out it caused grotesque deformations.
01:10Tens of thousands of children were born without their limbs.
01:13Our country was spared of that.
01:16Because a very courageous scientist named Francis Kelsey in FDA refused to allow the drug to be sold in this
01:24country.
01:25My uncle gave her an award, and then he signed a new piece of legislation that required for the first
01:32time FDA to regulate the efficacy of drugs.
01:36It was a dramatic change in health policy and in the public health business.
01:41But nothing changed the public health business like this.
01:44We are lowering prices dramatically so that Americans will be paying instead of the highest prices in the world,
01:51the lowest prices of any developed nation in the world.
01:54And this could not have happened under any other president except for this one.
01:59Everybody tried.
02:01Sincerely, both Bushes, President Biden, President Obama,
02:05they were unable to do it because of the inertia that is built into this system to prevent this reform
02:13from happening.
02:14President Trump, as I've said before, called me and Oz every hour of the day
02:20and made it very clear that our jobs were dependent on this getting through.
02:26I didn't want to fire a Kennedy.
02:29I couldn't.
02:29The thought of firing this guy.
02:32I wasn't going to do that.
02:33Go ahead, Bob.
02:35They were very, very emotional conversations.
02:37Let me put it that way.
02:39President Trump was able to attract to this administration an extraordinary caliber of people.
02:45And one of those is Chris Klump, who led the negotiations.
02:49And I don't think anybody else could have done this.
02:52Chris Klump walked away to join this administration, to join my agency,
02:57a billion-dollar company that he built.
02:59And he built that company, which is a platform for hospitals sharing their medical records.
03:06And it was completely built on his integrity.
03:10To succeed at that company, a lot of people have to trust you.
03:14And he was able to bring that quality and that virtue into these negotiations.
03:20And all of these leaders who you see here, they are doing something very patriotic.
03:26They're taking a big risk, and it's a risk based on trust, ultimately.
03:31Trust this president.
03:33Trust the people who helped them with this negotiation.
03:37And understanding that we tried to understand their companies and their business models
03:42so that we could make this work for them as well.
03:46President Trump gave us a very specific order,
03:48which was not only did he want the lowest drug prices in the world,
03:52but he also wanted to make sure we didn't bankrupt these companies
03:56so that we continue, the United States continues to be the hub
04:01for biomedical research globally.
04:04And then the last thing he asked us to do
04:06was to make sure all the companies began reassuring their production.
04:11And these companies today...
04:12We'll see you next time.
