Trump says major drug tariffs are coming soon

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President Donald Trump doubled plans to quickly impose “major” tariffs on drugs imported into the US

That’s after Trump exempts the sector from a massive round of his so-called mutual tariffs after the drugmaker sighed for a temporary relief last week.

He said Tuesday at a National Republican Congressional Committee dinner on Tuesday, according to several news outlets. “And when they hear that, they’ll leave China. They’ll leave elsewhere because they have to sell. Most of their products are sold here and they’re going to open the plants there.”

Drug manufacturing in the United States has shrunk significantly over the last few decades. Most of the so-called active ingredients in medicine have moved to China and other countries, according to the Food and Drug Administration.

It is unclear what those tariffs will look like. But Trump told the Air Force last week that “Pharma” tariffs would arrive at levels you’ve never seen before,” according to several reports.

Already, the pharmaceutical industry is being pushed back once again weeks after some companies announced they were wiping out US manufacturing investments to build goodwill with Trump.

Elli Lilly CEO David Rix warned Friday that Trump’s decision to impose broad tariffs could ultimately hurt drug research and development.

“We cannot violate these contracts, so we have to eat the costs of tariffs and make trade-offs within our company,” Rix told the BBC in an interview. “Usually, it’s a reduction in staff or research and development and we expect R&D to be the first to come. That’s a disappointing result.”

Eli Lilly has been leading the industry since 2020 with $50 billion to build and upgrade new factories, increasing US production capacity. These facilities are key to the company’s huge hit weight loss and manufacturing diabetes medication.

But Eli Lily is primarily manufacturing abroad, particularly in Ireland, employing over 3,000 people and building a new $800 million facility.

David Risinger, an analyst at Leerink Partners, said drug-specific tariffs are likely to raise drug prices for patients, as companies will take years to produce these drugs domestically, costly and cost more than producing them overseas.

TD Cowen analyst Steve Scala said last week that TD Cowen analyst Steve Scala said that due to the vast, complex manufacturing networks with multiple steps in various countries, it is difficult to predict the potential impact of tariffs on pharmaceutical companies.

However, Scala said Eli Lilly, Bristol Myers Squibb and Abbvie appear to be better positioned than others as there are more major manufacturing plants in the United States internationally.

The majority of their sites responsible for producing active drug ingredients are also in the United States, he added.

Meanwhile, Novartis and Roche said they are “more at risk” because there are few US plants and the high proportion of international active ingredient sites.

Feel free to send tips, suggestions, story ideas and data to Annika at Annikakim.constantino@nbcuni.com.

January is 10 years ago (and at least as it is for this tired reporter), according to a new Rock Health reporter).

In the first quarter, $3 billion was invested in digital health in 122 transactions, Rock Health said. The funds rose slightly, but the number of transactions fell compared to $2.7 billion, which was invested in 133 transactions during the same period last year.

The sector won $1.8 billion in funding across 118 transactions in the fourth quarter of last year.

Small early-stage startups dominated the space in the first quarter of 2025, as seed, Series A and Series B rounds accounted for 83% of labeled transactions, according to Rockhells.

The company calls rounds without “invalid rounds” with public titles (such as Series A). Startups often raise unlabeled rounds to avoid doing valuation haircuts or pushing through challenging markets, but often do not pull those tough conversations away forever.

Only five companies raised labeled D rounds after labeled Series D rounds in the first quarter, with three of those rounds over $100 million. Healthcare data company Innovaccer announced a $275 million increase in January, AI Automation Company Qventus announced a $105 million round in January, and AI Scribing Company Abridge announced a $250 million increase in February.

These transactions helped to increase the central stage round size to $105 million. That’s almost twice the median round size of $55 million for this cohort in 2024.

Although there was no major disruption in the first quarter of this year regarding digital health venture funding, the second quarter could pose more challenges.

The public markets have been shaking after President Donald Trump announced an offensive, widespread “mutual” tariff policy last week, plunging the US and its trading partners into uncertain territory. Last week, NASDAQ Composite entered the bear market, recording the worst week since the onset of Covid Pandemic.

Investors are not entirely clear yet, but tariffs came into effect Wednesday. Trump shows he can negotiate with potential partners who potentially lower their fees. The global trade dispute is changing in an instant, and could hesitate venture investors who are hesitant to cut down on large-scale checks in the near future.

CNBC covers all the latest developments and you can follow live coverage here.

Feel free to send tips, suggestions, story ideas and data to Ashley at ashley.capoot@nbcuni.com.