AstraZeneca CEO Pascal Soriot appeared relaxed last Friday as US President Donald Trump unveiled a medical deal that will lower drug prices for millions of Americans.
The hard work paid off, allowing Soriot to secure the first deal for a non-US pharmaceutical company and protect his Anglo-Swedish company from the threat of heavy tariffs on imports to the US, the world’s largest pharmaceutical market.
That moment at the White House was the culmination of public and private meetings between Soriot and Trump officials, dating back to November last year, when the then-candidate won the election, three sources close to the negotiations told Reuters. Everything was decided at the last minute, with a final push from AstraZeneca to seal the deal.
“You’ve kept me up at night, and my team, too. But it’s really been worth it,” Soriot joked to Trump.
Pascal Soriot met Trump at the royal banquet
The deal will likely bolster the 66-year-old French-born Australian’s reputation as something of a Trump confidant, even as many global CEOs grapple with the president’s shifting tariffs.
Trump maintains that Americans pay too much — often three times more, according to various studies — for prescription drugs than in other wealthy nations, and set a Sept. 29 deadline for manufacturers to reduce prices, using threats of tariffs of up to 100% as leverage.
Soriot’s seduction offensive began the week after Trump’s election victory. On Nov. 12, AstraZeneca announced a $3.5 billion plan to expand manufacturing and research in the United States.
Soriot, who arrived in the United States early last week, recently met Trump at a royal banquet dinner on Sept. 18 at Windsor Castle in Britain, according to the first source. Over the summer he met with US Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick at least three times in Britain and the US, he added.
The three sources asked not to be identified because the conversations were confidential.
Soriot also developed a close relationship with Virginia Governor Glenn Youngkin, an influential Republican and Trump ally, according to the same sources. This led to a quick deal to build a $4.5 billion plant in the state, which took just over a month to come together from the initial talks.
On Thursday, a day before the signing in the Oval Office, Soriot and Youngkin stood shoulder to shoulder, shovels in hand, to break ground on the site.
“Youngkin has a lot of ambition and his connections to the administration were clearly helpful,” a second source said. “The agreement on the Virginia facility showed that both sides were on the same page.”
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AstraZeneca; a ‘very American company’
Following this deal, and one signed a week earlier with US rival Pfizer, which boosted global healthcare stocks, Wall Street now expects more companies to reach similar deals with the Trump administration in the coming weeks.
Shore Capital analyst Sean Conroy noted that Soriot, who publicly supported Trump on drug pricing and called AstraZeneca a “very American company,” secured a place at the decision-making table in Washington through smart strategic announcements.
“That rhetoric has clearly resonated with the Trump administration and its agenda around ‘most favored nation’ drug pricing,” Conroy said, referring to the lower price paid in other wealthy countries after tariffs and rebates.
Some concessions, but a victory for AstraZeneca
Analysts had estimated that AstraZeneca was less exposed to U.S. tariffs than many other large drugmakers because it had established substantial manufacturing capacity in the United States.
However, stricter regulation and greater pressure on prices in the United Kingdom — where many manufacturers have criticized the government for not doing enough to support the sector — gave AstraZeneca a strong business case for the US deal.
Britain accounts for a small percentage of the company’s revenue, although it is where it is headquartered and primarily listed. AstraZeneca is the largest company listed on London’s FTSE 100 index.
Unlike the UK, US officials are actively pushing investment from companies like AstraZeneca and putting enough energy and resources into helping them, the first source said.
In July, AstraZeneca announced a sweeping $50 billion investment plan for the U.S. market and in late September said it would make a full listing of its shares in the United States alongside its current listing in London.
When Pfizer signed its agreement on September 30, AstraZeneca was already close to its own final agreement, according to the three sources.
Soriot traveled to the US early last week while details were being finalized. Every day it seemed that the agreement was about to be finalized, but it was delayed.
The Virginia plant deal cemented goodwill between the company and the Trump administration, which ultimately helped spur the signing of the pact, the third source explained.
In the end, although AstraZeneca made concessions on some drug prices for Medicaid and pledged to produce more drugs locally, its deal with the United States represents a victory for the company.
Analysts say this provides more clarity without significantly reducing expected revenue, which AstraZeneca aggressively projects at $80 billion by 2030, half of which will come from increased U.S. sales.
“Friday’s agreement is the last piece of the puzzle,” the third source added.
With information from Reuters
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