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Pfizer has agreed to lower its U.S. drug prices and invest $70 billion in U.S. manufacturing, President Donald Trump announced today during a White House press conference with Pfizer CEO Albert Bourla.
The Trump administration also announced it will launch “Trump RX,” a website where U.S. patients will be able to buy pharmaceutical drugs at lower prices, according to Chris Klomp, director of Medicare and deputy administrator of the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, who also spoke during the press conference.
The White House did not immediately respond when The Defender asked if Trump would personally profit from the website and the products sold on it. The White House also didn’t say when it planned to clarify Trump’s financial relationship to the website, leaving the public to speculate on whether the president will profit from the sale of pharmaceuticals on Trump RX.
The White House fact sheet released today did not provide details on how U.S. patients would directly buy Pfizer’s products on the Trump RX website, but Klomp said the site will allow U.S. patients to buy pharmaceutical drugs at lower prices “in a click.”
“No more Canadian detours to purchase drugs more inexpensively at our neighbor,” Klomp said.
The deal announced today requires Pfizer to offer its drugs at a “deep discount” when selling directly to U.S. patients, the fact sheet stated.
For instance, Pfizer’s product Eucrisa, an ointment for atopic dermatitis, will be sold at an 80% discount to patients who purchase it directly. The company’s migraine nasal spray Zavzpret will be marked down 50% for patients purchasing directly.
Former pharmaceutical industry executive Sasha Latypova, in a Substack post today, criticized the administration’s planned Trump RX website.
According to Latypova, the direct-to-consumer website project was originally a Pfizer initiative.
In April 2024, Pfizer applied to trademark “Pfizer for All” for several uses, including online retail pharmacy services and mobile software for giving patients information and resources, Endpoint News reported.
Latypova said the fact that the direct-to-consumer marketing website is about to be launched under Trump’s name is evidence of Trump’s collusion with the pharmaceutical industry.
“If anyone is still in doubt that Trump is personally and politically funded by Big Pharma, here is the proof,” she wrote.
Pfizer will sell drugs to Medicaid at lower prices, but other details still unclear
Under the agreement announced today, state Medicaid programs will be able to access Pfizer’s products at prices similar to what the company charges other wealthy nations.
Trump also said Pfizer has agreed to increase its drug prices in other countries “a little bit” while lowering prices in the U.S. “a bit — so it’s fair.”
Bourla called the deal with Trump “historic” and thanked the president for his friendship. However, many of the details and the full scope of the agreement remain unclear.
For instance, Pfizer did not agree to cut the prices it currently offers to employers, private insurers and Medicare, The New York Times reported.
As of press time, the White House had not released details about the $70 billion Pfizer agreed to spend on domestic manufacturing facilities.
Pfizer is the first pharmaceutical company to make a deal with Trump under his administration’s “Most-Favored-Nation” (MFN) pricing initiative, according to a White House fact sheet.
Trump launched the initiative in May with an executive order directing the government to take steps toward bringing U.S. drug prices in line with those paid by similar nations.
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In July, Trump sent a letter to 17 major drugmakers, including Pfizer, Merck, Novo Nordisk and Eli Lilly, demanding that they take actions aligned with the MFN initiative.
He said the companies had until Sept. 29 to institute several changes, including extending MFN pricing to Medicaid, guaranteeing MFN for new drugs, returning foreign revenue increases back to U.S. patients and providing direct purchasing opportunities for U.S. patients at MFN pricing.
In response, the Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America, known as PhRMA, on Monday rolled out America’s Medicines, a website that will connect U.S. patients with drugmakers’ direct-purchase programs.
PhRMA also said drugmakers committed $500 billion in “new U.S.-based infrastructure investments.”
However, Politico noted that PhRMA appeared to “sidestep” Trump’s demand that companies make their drugs available at MRF pricing — PhRMA’s press release said nothing about selling drugs to U.S. patients at the price charged in other wealthy nations.
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