Trump gives 17 pharmaceutical companies 60 days to lower prices for new drugs.

U.S. President Donald Trump on Thursday offered 17 pharmaceutical companies 60 days to guarantee the best prices for new drugs or face "every tool" his administration will deploy to benefit families.

Trump sent a letter to the executives of these companies, including Eli Lilly and Company , warning them that from now on, "the only thing" he will accept from the manufacturers is a commitment that offers citizens an end to "vastly inflated prices and the free use of American innovation by European and other developed countries."

Among their demands, according to the letter read by White House spokeswoman Karoline Leavitt, are extending "most-favored-nation pricing to the Medicaid health plan , returning additional revenue earned abroad to American patients and taxpayers, and allowing direct purchasing at most-favored-nation prices."

The Republican leader recalled that on May 12, he signed an executive order requiring these companies to reduce drug prices in the country within 30 days .

The goal is to ensure that Americans pay the same prices enjoyed by other developed nations.

" Currently, brand-name drugs in the United States are, on average, up to three times more expensive than those for the same drugs anywhere else. This unacceptable burden on working American families ends with my Administration," his text emphasizes.

If they refuse, according to the letter, the Executive Branch will deploy all measures at its disposal "to protect American families from continued abusive drug pricing practices."

" Americans demand lower drug prices and they need them today. Other nations have taken advantage of our innovation for too long, and it's time they pay their fair share," the letter concludes.