Topline
President Donald Trump on Tuesday announced the creation of “TrumpRx,” a direct-to-consumer website where customers can buy drugs directly, as well as an agreement with pharmaceutical manufacturer Pfizer for significant reductions for drug prices that will be offered on the new platform.
The TrumpRx website is expected to allow patients to pay in cash for certain prescription drugs, the Wall Street Journal reported Tuesday, but the president offered few details on how the site would work.
Trump announced plans for the website in an Oval Office speech alongside Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and Pfizer CEO Dr. Albert Bourla.
Drugs from Pfizer will be available on the TrumpRx platform, the pharmaceutical company said in a statement sent to Forbes.
Pfizer also voluntarily agreed to reduce drug prices in the U.S., putting prices in line with those paid in other developed markets, the company said.
Pfizer said it agreed to a deal with the Trump administration in which it would not face pharmaceutical tariffs, so long as it agreed to invest in manufacturing in the U.S.
The company also said it would invest an additional $70 billion in research, development and capital projects in the U.S.
Trump said other pharmaceutical companies were coming to negotiate similar deals “over the next week.”
Plans for the new website were first reported by Bloomberg earlier in September, which noted the plan was still under development at the time.
A Pfizer spokesperson told Forbes the company will be offering mostly primary care and a few specialty drugs on the TrumpRx site. These include Duavee, to treat menopause symptoms, which will be offered at around an 85% discount. Other Pfizer medicines on the site will include: Eucrisa, for atopic dermatitis, at $162, Toviaz for overactive bladder at $42 and autoimmune drugs Abrilada and Xeljanz, which will be at significant discounts.
Trump has made overtures at reducing costs for prescription drugs for months. In July, Trump sent letters to 17 major drug manufacturers demanding price reductions in line with an executive order he signed in May. The order demanded “most-favored-nation” pricing for prescription drugs—which would be their lowest cost sold in any other country. Trump has frequently railed against pharmaceutical companies for charging higher prices in the U.S., and in a July statement vowed to “end the freeriding by European and other developed nations on American innovations.” Trump tried to use this same strategy to lower Medicare drug prices with an executive order during his first term in office, but the effort was blocked by a federal judge. That same executive order instructed Kennedy to create “direct-to-consumer purchasing programs” to purchase drugs at the newly negotiated discounts.