Trump pronounces efforts to expand access to IVF drugs

President Donald Trump on Thursday announced two recent efforts to expand the supply of in vitro fertilization, the primary concrete step from his administration on the expensive and politically fraught procedure.

Trump struck a deal with EMD Serono, a subsidiary of Germany’s Merck KGaA, to slash the value of a number of the company’s fertility medicines in exchange for relief from planned tariffs on pharmaceuticals imported into the U.S., which Trump has not yet imposed.

The Trump administration may also be issuing guidance encouraging employers to supply fertility advantages on to their employees, which might work similarly to vision or dental coverage. It would allow employers to supply add-on coverage at a hard and fast cost for patients and employers. However it’s unclear how much the trouble will increase coverage, because it doesn’t mandate that employers participate.

At a press conference Thursday, Trump said the moves will result in “many more beautiful American children.”

“We’ll dramatically slash the fee of IVF and the treatment and plenty of of probably the most common fertility drugs for countless thousands and thousands of Americans,” Trump said. “Prices are going way down, way, way down.”

EMD Serono, the most important fertility drug manufacturer on the planet, said it’s going to sell its IVF therapies on to patients and that individuals will give you the option to purchase the drugs on Trump’s direct-to-consumer purchasing site, TrumpRx.gov. That site will launch in January 2026.

The medications include Gonal-f, a critical drug utilized in the shot protocol required for egg stimulation.

The plan comes as Trump works to rein in prescription drug costs within the U.S., inking deals with Pfizer and AstraZeneca in recent weeks that aim to make it easier for Americans to access certain drugs.

Hundreds of thousands of babies have been born through IVF, which involves combining eggs and sperm in a laboratory to create an embryo for couples having difficulty conceiving. The decades-old procedure is a difficulty that the president repeatedly vowed to handle on the campaign trail, calling himself the “father of IVF” last fall.

The procedure is often not fully covered by insurance — if in any respect — and it will probably cost around $20,000 or more per cycle. Only 1 / 4 of corporations with greater than 200 employees currently cover IVF. Some studies have shown that an IVF cycle within the U.S. costs 271% greater than the typical in 25 other countries. 

Trump issued an executive order on IVF shortly after the president took office, promising to lower costs and make the procedure more accessible. But that order didn’t provide specifics other than promising to place out an in depth report with recommendations on the problem by late May. That report has not been released. 

The procedure became a flashpoint within the nationwide clash over abortion and reproductive rights in early 2024 when Alabama’s Supreme Court said that frozen embryos are children and those that destroy them will be held chargeable for wrongful death. In some cases, embryos could also be discarded during IVF. 

Trump quickly distanced himself from that ruling last yr, urging the Alabama Legislature to guard access to IVF. 

Americans generally support the procedure. An April 2024 poll from Pew Research Center found that seven in 10 U.S. adults say IVF access is an excellent thing, with modest differences across most demographic and partisan groups.