The news: EMD Serono, a division of Merck KGaA, reached a drug pricing deal with the Trump administration that will lower the cost of the company’s fertility treatments in exchange for tariff reprieve and expedited regulatory review of a product being brought to the US.

Unpacking the news: EMD Serono’s agreement with the government follows similar deals made by AstraZeneca and Pfizer.

• EMD Serono said it will offer its three in vitro fertilization (IVF) therapies at an 84% discount from list prices to cash-pay patients through TrumpRx, a soon-to-come website that links consumers to pharma brands’ D2C drug purchasing portals.
• Like the two pharma companies before it, EMD Serono will also apply most-favored-nation drug prices (which are about what other developed countries pay for the same drugs) to state Medicaid programs and will use those prices for new products it brings to market.

In exchange, EMD Serono will not face pharma-sector tariffs that Trump has threatened for drugmakers that don’t invest in US manufacturing. The company will also get a priority voucher from the FDA for its fertility drug Pergoveris that is approved in Europe but not in the US. The new voucher program could slash drug approval times from about a year to 1 to 2 months.

What’s different about this deal: AstraZeneca and Pfizer agreed to lower prices of some drugs that are more commonly covered by insurance than IVF treatments. When those deals were struck, we noted that the discounts for cash-pay patients applied to only a small group—and even then, the prices would be unaffordable for most.

However, the impact of EMD Serono’s reduced prices for IVF medications could be far greater since patients frequently have to pay for these treatments out of pocket.

• Only about one-quarter (27%) of large employers cover in-vitro IVF, per a 2024 KFF survey. Insurance coverage for IVF is nearly non-existent for people in Medicaid plans, per KFF.
• Most patients end up covering the cost of IVF treatment, per prior KFF research.
• The cost of just one IVF cycle can be upwards of $20,000, with multiple rounds often needed.

The bottom line: Medication is just one part of the IVF process, but steep drug discounts could significantly ease costs for families who were going to pay out of pocket anyway.

Our take: The TrumpRx initiative just got a big boost. Discounted fertility treatments from EMD Serono, the world’s largest fertility drugmaker, will resonate with an American public that broadly supports greater IVF access.

Additionally, pharma’s pricing agreements with the government suggest they were far more worried about tariffs on US drug imports than they admitted in earnings calls or media interviews. Large drugmakers that are thinking through their own versions of deals will need to weigh their proposed product discounts against tariff exposure if they choose not to comply with the administration.

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