Trump Administration Launches TrumpRx Website for Discount Drugs
NEW YORK (AP) — President Donald Trump’s administration on Thursday launched TrumpRx, a website it says will help patients buy prescription drugs directly at a reduced price at a time when health care and the cost of living are growing concerns for Americans.
“You’re going to save a fortune,” President Donald Trump said at the site’s inauguration. “And this is also very good for healthcare in general.”
The government-hosted website is not a platform to purchase medicines. Rather, it is set up as a facilitator directing Americans to drug makers’ direct-to-consumer websites, where they can make purchases. It also provides coupons to use at pharmacies. The site launches with more than 40 medications, including weight loss medications like Ozempic and Wegovy.
The site is part of a larger effort by the Trump administration to show it is addressing high-cost challenges. Affordability has emerged as a political vulnerability for Trump and his Republican allies ahead of November’s midterm elections, as Americans remain concerned about the cost of housing, food, utilities and other basic elements of middle-class identity.
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Trump emphasized that the lower prices were made possible by his price pressure on pharmaceutical companies, saying he demanded they charge the same costs in the United States as in other nations. As a result, prescription drug costs will increase in foreign countries, he said.
“We are tired of subsidizing the world,” Trump said at the evening event on the White House campus that lasted about 20 minutes.
The administration is touting substantial discounts, although it’s unclear what impact the changes will have on family budgets. The site includes the disclaimer that prices “may be even lower” for people with insurance since it lists the “out-of-pocket price.” Additionally, some consumers may use available generics that cost less than brand-name medications.
Still, Dr. Mehmet Oz, administrator of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, touted the website as transformative. He said lower prices from Ozempic and Wegovy would cause the country to collectively lose £100m this year. He suggested that lower prices for the fertility drug Gonal-F would lead to pregnancies across the country.
“We’re going to have a lot of Trump babies with these costs,” Oz said.
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The president first mocked TrumpRx in September while announcing the first of his more than 15 deals with pharmaceutical companies to lower drug prices to match the lowest price offered in other developed nations. It said in December that the website would offer “massive discounts to all consumers,” although it is unclear whether prices available on drug makers’ websites will typically be lower than what many consumers could get through their insurance coverage.
Thursday’s website launch came after it faced multiple delays, for reasons the administration has not shared publicly. Last fall, Oz told Trump that the site would share prices for consumers before the end of the year. A launch scheduled for late January was also delayed.
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The president has spent the last few months trying to highlight his efforts to lower drug prices for Americans. It has done so through agreements with major pharmaceutical companies, including some of the largest pharmaceutical companies such as Pfizer, Eli Lilly and Merck, which have agreed to lower the prices of their Medicaid drugs to so-called “most favored nations” prices. As part of the agreements, many of the companies’ new drugs will also be launched at discounted prices to consumer markets through TrumpRx.
Many of the details of Trump’s deals with manufacturers remain unclear, and drug prices for patients in the U.S. can depend on many factors, including the competition a treatment faces and insurance coverage. Most people have coverage through work, the individual insurance market, or government programs like Medicaid and Medicare, which protect them from much of the cost.
The Trump administration has also negotiated lower prices for several prescription drugs for Medicare enrollees, through a direct negotiation program created by a 2022 law.
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