The Indian stock market was also affected, as 17 multinational pharmaceutical companies suffered significant losses as a result of US President Donald Trump’s letter requesting that they lower their prices in the nation.

In order to match prices in other developed economies, the letter requested that these companies lower the price of drugs in the US.

The Nifty Pharma index responded swiftly, dropping 2.45 percent during Friday’s intra-day trading, despite the fact that no Indian pharmaceutical businesses received Trump’s letters.

For the third consecutive day, the index declined. There was a 3.98 percent decline in Sun Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd. Granules India lost 3.2 percent, and Aurobindo Pharma lost 3.42%. Cipla, Lupin, and Gland Pharma all had a 2–3% decline.

In a letter to 17 of the biggest pharmaceutical companies in the world, the US president urged them to immediately cut prescription prices and guarantee that future drug pricing will be comparable to those in other nations.

Seeking ‘Most Favoured Nation’ (MFN) pricing for the United States within sixty days, the letters were issued to Eli Lilly, Novo Nordisk, Pfizer, and other companies.

According to new data, Americans spend more than three times as much on name-brand medications as those in other industrialized countries, said White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt.

On May 12, Trump made a similar declaration and called on pharmaceutical companies to lower their pricing in the United States. Given that generic medications are currently marketed at low prices, industry insiders in India had previously warned that Trump’s proposal may harm Indian exporters of branded generics to the US.

They claimed that additional price reductions would render shipping unfeasible. The US market receives a third of India’s $30 billion in pharmaceutical exports each year.

In the letter, Trump threatened to use “every tool in our arsenal” to protect Americans from “continued abusive drug pricing” practices unless drug companies voluntarily complied with the new pricing directive.

Trump’s letter mandated that pharmaceutical corporations sell some medications to patients directly at the same cost that they charge third-party insurers.