Drug Stores & Pharmacies NAICS 456110

May 2, 2025 - Pharma Manufacturers That Bring Operations Back To US may Get Tariff Exemption

• President Trump said at a late-April meeting with pharmaceutical and technology industry executives that pharmaceutical manufacturers which move their operations to plants in the US would face no tariffs, according to The Guardian. Industry trade group Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America estimated that a proposed 25% tariff would boost drug prices by as much as 12.9%. President Trump also suggested that companies would have the time needed to repatriate some manufacturing with new or expanded operations in the US before they would face a “tariff wall”. President Trump paused his “reciprocal” tariffs for 90 days after they prompted a sell-off of US government bonds in April but he has repeatedly threatened to carry through with sectoral tariffs on the pharmaceutical industry.
• Annual out-of-pocket costs for the Medicare Part D drug benefit will be capped at $2,000 in 2025, according to the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS). Many insurers are increasing premiums for their stand-alone drug plan offerings, however, according to health policy research firm KFF. Some major plan sponsors, including Aetna and UnitedHealthcare, are also reducing their stand-alone prescription drug plan offerings, and overall, there will be fewer prescription drug plans in 2025 than in 2024 – 524 plans nationwide, down from 709 in 2024.

• Strong pre-pandemic store growth is reversing as the industry faces headwinds like falling prescription reimbursement, persistent theft, and changing shopping habits, according to the Associated Press (AP). A pattern to who has access to pharmacies has emerged, with gaps existing in urban and rural neighborhoods. Residents of neighborhoods that are largely Black and Latino have fewer pharmacies per capita than people who live in mostly white neighborhoods, according to an AP analysis of licensing data from 44 states, data from the National Council for Prescription Drug Programs, and the American Community Survey. Drug stores and pharmacies routinely close because they aren’t doing well financially or because of decreasing population in a service area, according to the AP. More than 7,000 US pharmacies have closed since 2019, according to data from University of Pittsburgh researcher Lucas Berenbrok, who considers that estimate conservative. About 54% of the closures were independent drugstores, an AP analysis of Berenbrok’s data found.
• Drug store and pharmacy sales increased 1% year over year but decreased 7.4% month over month in November 2024, according to the US Census Bureau. The prices that drug stores and pharmacies charge for their products decreased slightly during 2024, according to the US Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS). Drug store and pharmacy employment and wages for nonsupervisory employees decreased slightly during the first month of 2025, according to the BLS.