The Trump administration is considering setting up a government-run website that would help Americans buy cheaper medications directly from pharmaceutical companies, according to reports.
Inside sources told Bloomberg News that the website would let users search for specific drugs and then connect them with manufacturers, allowing them to pay out of pocket at a discounted price.
One name reportedly being considered for the website was “TrumpRx”, although the plans are still under discussion.
It comes after the White House sent letters to 17 major drugmakers giving them until September 29 to expand their direct-to-consumer options and slash drug prices in line with other developed nations, while raising prices abroad to compensate.
“Americans are demanding lower drug prices, and they need them today. Other nations have been freeloading on U.S. innovation for far too long: it is time they pay their fair share,” read Trump’s letter.
“If you refuse to step up, we will deploy every tool in our arsenal to protect American families from continued abusive drug pricing practices.”
The Independent has asked the White House for comment. The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services referred all inquiries to the White House.
Several Big Pharma firms including Ely Lilly and Ozempic maker Novo Nordisk have already set up direct-to-consumer drug services, while others such as Pfizer and Bristol Myers Squibb have signaled they will follow suit.
Such services can significantly lower costs for patients who are willing and able to go around their insurance companies and pay out of pocket, although they are little help to those who cannot afford to do so.
Trump has repeatedly pushed U.S. drug makers to lower prices, both in his first and second term, while also cracking down on advertisements for unofficial versions of popular prescription drugs.
Drug costs in America are often wildly inflated compared to other rich nations, due in part to the tangle of health insurers, pharmacy benefit managers, and other middlemen that sit between drug makers and patients.
In many other countries, governments either directly set a maximum price for specific drugs or negotiate one with manufacturers, forcing them to accept lower revenues in exchange for access to millions of patients.
Former President Joe Biden’s flagship Inflation Reduction Act in 2022 finally allowed Medicare to negotiate in this way, but this only covers some drugs and does not affect the price paid by anyone on private insurance.
Trump’s plan hinges on pushing pharma companies to equalize prices across the world, charging other nations more and charging U.S. patients less rather than using the latter as cash cows.
If other countries refuse to pay those higher prices, he has suggested he would slap heavy tariffs on their exports to force them to play ball.
It’s unclear how all this would dovetail with Trump’s proposed tariffs on imported pharmaceuticals, which the pharma industry claims will raise U.S. drug costs by nearly $51 billion.
Trump and his Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. on Monday claimed that autism is linked to Tylenol use during pregnancy — in defiance of decades of research finding no such connection.
