Pro-Trump drug pricing group hires lobbyists to work on most-favored-nation policy

By Owen Castellane

WASHINGTON — Americans for Pharma Reform, a Virginia nonprofit that has backed President Trump’s push to tie U.S. drug prices to those paid abroad, has hired the Washington lobbying firm Connector Inc. to work on “issues related to Most-Favored-Nation (MFN) pricing,” according to a lobbying registration posted Oct. 23.

The filing lists an effective date of July 1, 2026, and names two lobbyists, both former congressional aides: Robert Kendall Burgess, previously communications director to Reps. Trey Hollingsworth and Mike Garcia, and Morgan Paul Muchnick, a former professional staff member on the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee. Connector listed lobbying in two issue areas, pharmacy and trade, the registration shows.

The administration has made most-favored-nation pricing a central drug policy. Trump’s May 2025 executive order says the United States “has less than five percent of the world’s population and yet funds around three quarters of global pharmaceutical profits” and that Americans “will no longer be forced to pay almost three times more for the exact same medicines, often made in the exact same factories.”

Americans for Pharma Reform has praised that approach. In a statement on TrumpRx attributed to the group and posted in February on the website Big Pharma Busted, it said Trump “will fight for the American people by taking on Big Pharma and lowering prescription drug prices,” adding, “Now it’s up to Congress to codify these reforms into law.”

The group, which lists a post office box in Springfield, Va., on the registration, is also registered with the Federal Election Commission as an electioneering communication filer. FEC records show it reported a $42,000 payment to Strategic Media Placement Inc. on Oct. 24, 2024, for a “Pharma Reform Radio Ad” that referred to Sen. Tammy Baldwin of Wisconsin.

Connector, based on Capitol Court NE, posted a second registration minutes earlier the same day for Womack & Sons Construction Group, also effective July 1 and listing the same two lobbyists, according to the filing. Its other clients in Lobbying Disclosure Act records include the Tunica-Biloxi Economic Development Authority, the Premium Cigar Association and Republicans Overseas Action.

The Inquisitor is seeking comment from Connector Inc., at the filing contact address listed on the registration, and from AARP and AHIP. The Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America was already contacted by the Inquisitor today on another matter. Americans for Pharma Reform does not list a public email address on its filings, and the Inquisitor could not verify one. This story will be updated with any response.