U.S. President Trump announced on Thursday the launch of the TrumpRx.gov website, a platform designed to provide consumers with discounted prescription drugs as a core initiative in his efforts to lower U.S. drug prices. Trump announced the website's official launch at a White House event. "People will save a lot of money and stay healthy," he said.
Sixteen of the world's largest pharmaceutical manufacturers have reached a "most-favored nation" agreement with the Trump administration, committing to lower U.S. drug prices in exchange for tariff exemptions. According to the agreement, these companies will reduce prices for the U.S. government’s Medicaid program (Medicaid) and provide discounts to self-pay drug purchasers through the TrumpRx platform.
The agreement includes price-cutting provisions with Eli Lilly LLY.N and Novo Nordisk NOVOb.CO that will significantly reduce the price of the popular GLP-1 weight-loss drug. The government said this move would lower the average monthly drug cost for Americans to a range of $149 to $350.
Novo Nordisk and Eli Lilly have previously said that they currently sell weight loss drugs directly to consumers, which accounts for more than 10% of their total sales. Novo Nordisk's Wegovy oral drug was launched early last month and is being sold exclusively through direct sales while it waits for insurance companies to finalize coverage terms.
According to STAT News, the TrumpRx.gov website will be powered by GoodRx, a prescription drug savings platform. The report states that TrumpRx will not sell drugs directly, but will direct patients to other websites to purchase them.
It's unclear how much savings consumers can expect. The site is primarily geared toward consumers who buy drugs without insurance, meaning most drug purchases don't count toward a patient's insurance deductible.
"For people with insurance, the actual value of this platform is questionable," said Juliette Cubanski, deputy director of Medicare policy at KFF, a health care policy organization. "In some cases, out-of-pocket costs remain unaffordable for most people."
U.S. patients currently pay much more for prescription drugs than in other developed countries, often nearly three times more. The Trump administration is continuing to pressure pharmaceutical companies to lower U.S. drug prices to international levels.
Other drugmakers that have signed agreements include Pfizer, AstraZeneca, Merck and GlaxoSmithKline.