The Trump administration is rolling out TrumpRx on Thursday.
White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said Trump is ready to unveil the initiative with Dr. Mehmet Oz, administrator of the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services, and Joe Gebbia, director of Trump’s National Design Studio.
What is TrumpRx?
The website says it’s designed to help patients get prescription drugs directly from manufacturers at lower prices, as rising health care expenses and the overall cost of living remain a challenge for many Americans.
The government website is not intended to sell the drugs directly, but instead will serve as an intermediary to direct Americans to the direct-to-consumer sites of the drug manufacturers to make purchases, the AP reports.
The site’s launch, planned for Thursday evening, was announced by Leavitt, who wrote in a post on X that it is “a state-of-the-art website for American consumers to buy low-cost prescription drugs.”
Johnson & Johnson has struck a deal with the U.S. government to lower drug prices for some Americans, becoming the latest big drug company to agree to lower prices in exchange for relief from tariffs. As part of the deal, J&J will provide its drugs to the Medicaid program at prices comparable to those in other developed countries and participate in TrumpRx, Bloomberg reported.
The president first hinted at TrumpRx in September when he announced the first of more than 15 deals with drug companies aimed at lowering drug prices to match the lowest rates in other developed countries. He mentioned in December that the website would offer “massive discounts to all consumers,” though it remains unclear whether the prices listed on manufacturers’ sites will consistently beat the prices many people already pay through insurance.
Thursday’s expected launch follows several delays for which the administration has not publicly explained the reasons. Oz told Trump last fall that the site would begin sharing prices with consumers by the end of the year, and a planned launch in late January was later pushed back.
Over the past several months, the president has sought to emphasize his push to lower the cost of prescription drugs for Americans. The effort has included agreements with big pharmaceutical companies, among them Pfizer, Eli Lilly and Merck, to commit to lowering the prices of some Medicaid drugs to what is known as the “nation’s most favorable” level. As part of these deals, many newly developed drugs will also debut at reduced prices for consumers through TrumpRx.
Still, many of the specifics of contracts with drugmakers have not been fully detailed, and what patients pay for prescriptions in the U.S. varies widely depending on factors such as market competition and insurance coverage. Most Americans are insured through employers, private plans, or government programs like Medicare and Medicaid, which typically absorb a significant portion of drug costs.
In addition, the Trump administration negotiated lower prices for several drugs for Medicare beneficiaries through the direct negotiation process established by the 2022 law.
(With input from agencies)
