In his first week in office, President Donald Trump issued executive orders and took other actions with significant implications for the life sciences and health care industries that mark substantial departures from the previous administration and, in some cases, long-standing U.S. policy.
First, President Trump’s January 20, 2025, executive orders rescinded the following executive actions implemented by former President Joe Biden:
- Executive Order 14087, “Lowering Prescription Drug Costs for Americans,” pursuant to which the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Innovation (CMMI) was creating three drug pricing experiments: the Medicare High-Value Drug List Model, the Cell & Gene Therapy Access Model and the Accelerating Clinical Evidence Model.
- Executive Order 14070, “Continuing To Strengthen Americans’ Access to Affordable, Quality Health Coverage,” which was intended to expand enrollment in Affordable Care Act (ACA) health insurance plans by providing for longer enrollment periods in most states and extra funding for brokers who assist with ACA enrollment.
- Several executive orders implemented in response to the COVID-19 pandemic and to prepare for future infectious disease outbreaks, including measures to encourage testing, research, economic relief and international cooperation.
Also on January 20, 2025, President Trump issued an executive order giving notice of the administration’s intent to withdraw from the World Health Organization (Executive Order 14155).
Separately, the Trump administration directed operating divisions of the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) — including the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and National Institutes of Health (NIH) — to pause all external communications and research grant review until February 1, 2025. This resulted in a swath of canceled advisory committee and other public meetings, with potentially rippling implications for product sponsors and other industry stakeholders.
Finally, the Trump administration’s general moratorium on publishing regulations and guidance documents and diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI)-related executive orders have resulted in FDA removing certain guidance documents from its website and pausing publication of other guidances that were scheduled to be released. (See our DEI analysis.)
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