US President Donald Trump launched TrumpRx, a new consumer-facing digital platform positioned as a cornerstone of his administration’s efforts to rein in the soaring cost of prescription drugs in the United States.
The platform, unveiled early Friday, is designed as a centralized website directing consumers to pharmaceutical companies offering discounted prices on selected medications through their own direct-to-consumer portals. It will not sell drugs directly to patients, White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said, but instead acts as a gateway connecting Americans to lower-cost options.
The initiative represents a fresh attempt by the federal government to address US prescription drug prices, which are on average two to three times higher than those in other advanced economies, and in some cases as much as ten times higher, according to research by RAND Corp.
TrumpRx is primarily aimed at Americans willing to pay cash and forgo insurance, suggesting that the biggest beneficiaries could be people with limited coverage or no insurance at all.
While Leavitt said millions of Americans would save money through the platform, questions remain over whether insured patients will see additional savings compared with the benefits already offered by their existing health plans.
In recent months, the administration has negotiated agreements with major drugmakers, including Eli Lilly, Novo Nordisk, and 14 other pharmaceutical manufacturers, to voluntarily offer discounts on certain medications, particularly for Medicaid patients, through the platform.
These deals are part of Trump’s broader “most-favored-nation” policy agenda, which seeks to link US drug prices to the lowest prices paid in foreign markets.
Despite the fanfare, uncertainty persists over how much consumers will actually save. While the discounts are marketed as sharp cuts from list, or retail, prices, analysts warn that the economics of drug pricing are more complex.
Under one agreement with Novo Nordisk, for example, the diabetes drug Ozempic will be priced at $350 per month on TrumpRx, less than half its roughly $1,000 list price.
However, researchers at Georgetown’s Medicare Policy Initiative note that list prices are often far higher than what insurers and government programs ultimately pay after rebates and concessions. Studies show that average discounts on branded drugs under Medicare Part D are about 40%, while discounts in Medicaid exceed 75%, according to the Congressional Budget Office.
That suggests some payers may already be securing prices comparable to, or even lower than, those advertised through TrumpRx.
Top executives across the pharmaceutical industry have publicly backed the initiative.
Dave Ricks, CEO of Eli Lilly, told CNBC that his company was the first to sell obesity treatments directly to patients, describing TrumpRx as an expansion of that model across the industry. “We’re all for it,” he said.
Chris Boerner, CEO of Bristol Myers Squibb, said the company already operates a direct-to-consumer platform that initially offered cash discounts on the blood thinner Eliquis, adding that the platform will now be linked to TrumpRx. He said the company is exploring ways to include additional products, citing the complexity of the US healthcare system and the role of intermediaries in driving up costs.
Key Drugs and Prices on the Platform
While the administration has not released a comprehensive list of medications available through TrumpRx, details from recent pricing agreements point to several widely used drugs being offered at substantial discounts from list prices, including:
Ozempic (Novo Nordisk, diabetes): $350/month, down from about $1,000
Wegovy (Novo Nordisk, obesity): $350/month, down from about $1,350
Zepbound (Eli Lilly, obesity): $350/month, down from $1,086
Trulicity (Eli Lilly, diabetes): $389/month, down from about $1,000
Epclusa (Gilead, hepatitis C): $2,425, down from $24,920
Repatha (Amgen, cholesterol): $239, down from $573
Plavix (Sanofi): $16, down from $756
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