What Is Trumprx? POTUS To Unveil Website For Prescription Drugs At Discounted Rate

(MENAFN- Live Mint) The Trump administration is rolling out TrumpRx on Thursday.

White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said Trump is set to unveil the initiative with Dr. Mehmet Oz, administrator of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services and Joe Gebbia, director of Trump's National Design Studio.

What is TrumpRx?

A website it says is designed to help patients obtain prescription drugs directly from manufacturers at lower prices, as rising health care expenses and overall living costs remain a concern for many Americans.

The government-run website is not intended to sell medications directly but will instead serve as a facilitator, directing Americans to drugmakers' direct-to-consumer sites where purchases can be made, according to AP.

The launch of the site, scheduled for Thursday evening, was announced by Leavitt, who wrote in a post on X that it is“a state of the art website for Americans consumers to purchase low cost prescription drugs"

Johnson & Johnson struck an agreement with the US government to reduce drug prices for certain Americans, becoming the latest major pharmaceutical company to agree to price cuts in return for relief from tariffs. Under the deal, J&J will provide its medications to the Medicaid programme at prices comparable to those in other developed nations and will take part in TrumpRx, reported Bloomberg.

The president first hinted at TrumpRx in September while announcing the first of more than 15 agreements with pharmaceutical companies aimed at cutting drug prices to match the lowest rates in other developed countries. In December, he mentioned the website would offer“massive discounts to all consumers", though it remains unclear whether the prices listed on manufacturers' sites will consistently beat what many people already pay through insurance.

Also Read | Nike under Trump admin scrutiny over discrimination claims against white staff

The anticipated Thursday launch follows several delays, the reasons for which the administration has not publicly explained. Last fall, Oz told Trump the site would begin sharing prices with consumers before the end of the year, and a planned rollout in late January was later postponed.

Over the past many months, the president has worked to stress his push to reduce prescription drug costs for Americans. Those efforts have included agreements with major pharmaceutical companies, among them Pfizer, Eli Lilly, and Merck, that commit to lowering prices on certain Medicaid drugs to what are known as“most favored nations” levels. Under the deals, many newly developed medications will also debut at reduced prices for consumers through TrumpRx.

Also Read | Trump administration to make it easier to fire 50,000 federal workers

Still, many specifics of the agreements with drugmakers have not been fully detailed, and what patients pay for prescriptions in the US varies widely based on factors such as market competition and insurance coverage. Most Americans are insured through employers, private plans, or government programmes like Medicare and Medicaid, which typically absorb a significant share of drug costs.

Besides, the Trump administration has negotiated lower prices on several medications for Medicare recipients through a direct negotiation process established by a 2022 law.

(With inputs from agencies)

MENAFN05022026007365015876ID1110702754