President Donald J. Trump
The White House
Fact Sheets

Fact Sheet: President Donald J. Trump Announces Actions to Lower Costs and Expand Access to In Vitro Fertilization (IVF) and High-Quality Fertility Care

The White House

BRINGING MOST-FAVORED-NATION DRUG PRICING TO WOMEN: Today, President Donald J. Trump announced the third agreement with a leading pharmaceutical manufacturer to bring American drug prices in line with the lowest prices paid by other developed nations (known as the most-favored-nation, or MFN, price). This agreement is with one of the world’s leading manufacturers of fertility medications, EMD Serono, and will result in massive cost savings on fertility treatments.

  • GONAL-F, a commonly used fertility medication, will be made available to women purchasing directly from TrumpRx.gov at a discount equal to 796% of the deal price.
  • Low- and middle-income women (those with incomes below 550% of the Federal poverty level) will receive an additional discount totaling 2,320% of the deal price when purchasing from TrumpRx.gov.
  • The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services estimates women can save up to $2,200 per cycle of fertility drugs as a result of this deal on drugs that often cost over $5,000. Fertility drugs represent almost 20% of the total cost of a fertility treatment cycle.  
  • The agreement also provides that EMD Serono will offer other medicines at a deep discount when selling directly to American patients, guarantee MFN prices on all new innovative medicines that come to market, repatriate increased foreign revenue on existing products, and provide every State Medicaid program in the country access to MFN drug prices on EMD Serono products.
  • EMD Serono is also announcing that, for the first time in its history, it will be investing in manufacturing in the United States, manufacturing IVF drugs in the United States for the first time on the timelines agreed to in the deal.

CUTTING THROUGH RED TAPE TO DELIVER SAVINGS ON MEDICINES: President Trump also announced the FDA will be including a lower cost fertility drug in the initial round of recipients for the Commissioner’s National Priority Review Voucher program.

  • The drug is a lower-cost alternative to expensive medications already on the U.S. market. It has been approved in Europe but not yet in the United States.
  • The priority review voucher program cuts down the review time of applications from 10-12 months to just 1-2 months.
  • If approved following the expedited review timeline, American patients stand to benefit even more from lower prices due to increased competition in the fertility drug space.

TAKING NOVEL ACTION TO UNLEASH INNOVATION AND EXPAND COVERAGE: Additionally, President Trump announced the creation of a New Benefit Option for fertility benefits. Under this option, employers will have a new legal pathway to offer fertility benefits directly to employees, like they do for dental, vision, and life insurance, representing a massive opportunity to expand access to IVF coverage.

  • The Departments of Labor, Health and Human Services, and the Treasury announced today that employers can now offer standalone benefit packages to employees interested in coverage for treatment of infertility, including IVF.
  • The Departments also announced their intent to undertake rulemaking to continue to further expand the ability of employers to offer fertility benefits to their employees.
  • These benefit packages can address the continuum of fertility-related services, from those that address the root causes of infertility to IVF.
  • This new benefit option has the potential to help more families have healthy babies. Fertility benefit companies poised to offer such benefit packages report nearly 25% higher live birth rates among women using these benefits than those seeking care without such benefits.
  • This solution addresses the sparse coverage of fertility for hard-working American families and increases options for small- and medium-size employers to offer fertility benefits. Despite most people in their reproductive age receiving health coverage through their job, most employer coverage does not include fertility medications, IVF, or non-IVF treatments.
    • 42% of employers offer coverage of fertility services.
    • 32% offer coverage of fertility medications.
    • 32% offer coverage of IVF; and even less (19%) offer coverage of non-IVF treatments. Notably, 70% of large employers offer IVF coverage.

DELIVERING ON PROMISES FOR AMERICAN FAMILIES: President Trump promised to increase access to IVF and lower the associated costs so American families can have more babies, building on his record of supporting family formation and stability.  

  • As many as one in eight couples trying to have a baby are unable to conceive, and many face significant financial hurdles to accessing IVF. The cost can range from $12,000 to $25,000 per cycle and multiple cycles may be needed to get pregnant.
    • The solutions to lower costs and expand access to IVF and high-quality fertility care will result in more healthy pregnancies and healthy babies at a time when U.S. fertility is at a historic low.
  • President Trump’s Working Families Tax Cuts established Trump Accounts, providing newborns with a $1,000 investment to help secure the financial future for every American child from birth.
    • The Working Families Tax Cuts also expanded and made permanent the increases in the Child Tax Credit that the President championed in his first term, supporting over 40 million families.
  • President Trump has long advocated for more babies and expanding American families: “Because we want more babies, to put it very nicely. And for this same reason, we will also allow new parents to deduct major newborn expenses from their taxes, so that parents that have a beautiful baby will be able, so we’re pro family. But the IVF treatments are expensive. It’s very hard for many people to do it and to get it, but I’ve been in favor of IVF, right from the beginning.”