At a White House press conference on Thursday to announce reduced costs for weight-loss drugs, President Donald Trump unexpectedly suggested that the United States should receive a stake in a pharmaceutical company.
Seated at his Oval Office desk alongside health officials from his administration and executives from Novo Nordisk and Eli Lilly, Trump was asked by a reporter about Novo Nordisk’s recent acquisition of an obesity-focused biotech firm. Turning to CEO Maziar Mike Doustdar, Trump remarked, “Maybe you should give us a piece of the company like I’ve been asking for, give the United States a nice big chunk of the company.”
Trump to the Novo Nordisk CEO: "Maybe you should give us a piece of the company like I've been asking for." pic.twitter.com/NRunjTD3nv
— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) November 6, 2025
Doustdar laughed off the comment and proceeded to explain the acquisition, offering no response to the president’s unusual request. It remains unclear how serious Trump was about wanting a share of the Danish pharmaceutical giant, though his administration has already taken ownership stakes in several U.S. companies, including U.S. Steel, Intel, Trilogy Metals, Lithium Americas, and MP Materials.
If not for a patient taking Eli Lilly’s GLP-1 medication collapsing during the event, Trump’s suggestion that the government should get a “chunk” of Novo Nordisk might have dominated headlines instead of the intended focus on cutting drug prices. The president has repeatedly vowed to bring down prescription costs — often by exaggerated or mathematically impossible margins — and announced plans for a government website that would sell medications directly to the public.
Should Trump move forward with pursuing a piece of Novo Nordisk, the pressure on him to deliver meaningful reductions in drug prices would intensify. However, his controversial tariff policies and ongoing struggles with the broader economy could make achieving that goal significantly more difficult.
