Unlock the White House Watch newsletter for free
Your guide to what Trump’s second term means for Washington, business and the world
The Trump administration said it had struck a deal with EMD Serono, one of the largest providers of fertility assistance, which it claimed would significantly lower the cost of in vitro fertilisation.
President Donald Trump on Thursday said the cost of drugs for a standard IVF cycle would drop 73 per cent. The deal with EMD, owned by Germany’s Merck, would exempt the company from US tariffs and allow its IVF treatment to be sold at reduced costs via TrumpRx, the president’s online drug pricing site that is expected to launch in 2026.
As a result of the deal, the White House said people could save $2,200 per cycle of fertility treatments on procedures that can cost more than $5,000. Two pharmacy companies, CVS and Cigna’s Express Scripts, have agreed to cut the costs associated with distributing the drugs, the administration said.
For EMD, the deal also expedites US Food and Drug Administration approval for its fertility drug Pergoveris. EMD was one of the 17 groups in July that received a letter from Trump demanding lower prices.
IVF has become more popular as people have delayed having children until later in life, and health insurance plans are increasingly covering some expenses for the procedure. In 2020, New York state required health insurance plans with more than 100 people to cover three cycles of IVF.
In 2023, 2.6 per cent of all babies born in the US were delivered via IVF, according to the American Society for Reproductive Medicine. In the UK, one in 32 UK births were from IVF in 2023, the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority said earlier this year.
But expanding IVF poses potential political problems for Trump with the staunchly anti-abortion members of his base.
Trump ally Charlie Kirk, who was shot and killed in September, said in an April 2025 video that IVF should be legal but objected to fertilised embryos being discarded in the process.
“I find that to be directly contradictory to my pro-life stance,” the conservative activist said.
In 2024, the Alabama Supreme Court halted IVF in the state in a ruling that said “unborn children are ‘children’ . . . without exception based on developmental stage, physical location, or any other ancillary characteristics”.
Trump and other Republicans distanced themselves from the ruling. Asked on Thursday about the tensions between anti-abortion advocates and IVF, the president said: “You can’t get more pro-life than this.”
Shares of Progyny, a New York-based fertility and benefits company, jumped 5 per cent on Thursday afternoon when the IVF deal was announced.
Credit: Source link
