US President Donald Trump announced earlier this week that his administration would launch a new website, called TrumpRx, which will allow American consumers to buy prescription drugs from pharmaceutical companies at discounted prices.
Pfizer, the first United States pharmaceutical group to sign up to the website, said it would offer discounts of up to 85 percent on the cost of its medicines for those not using health insurance policies to pay and for those on the government’s low-cost insurance programme, Medicaid.
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The announcement prompted shares in the pharmaceuticals sector to lift sharply this week, signalling a favourable response from markets and the pharmaceuticals industry.
Here’s what we know about the new service, why it is being launched and how it will work.
What is TrumpRx and when is it being launched?
The new website will be launched in early 2026. It is a platform from which consumers will be able to buy prescription medicines directly from pharmaceutical companies without going through insurance.
On the site, consumers will be able to search for the prescription drug required and then be directed to the drug’s manufacturing company.
They will have access to discounted prices much closer to those typically paid by national health services in foreign countries at what are known as “most favoured nation” prices.
Beneficiaries of Medicaid – the federal government insurance programme for adults and children from lower-income backgrounds – will also be able to use the site.
“By taking this bold step, we’re ending the era of global price gouging at the expense of American families,” Trump told a news conference on Tuesday.
What are ‘most favoured nation’ prices?
“Most favoured nation” (MFN) prices are those that national health services in other countries, including Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the United Kingdom, Switzerland and Denmark, pay US pharmaceutical companies for prescription drugs.
As these countries buy medicines in bulk, they have much greater purchasing power to demand lower prices than ordinary consumers. This means pharmaceutical companies tend to sell their drugs at a much lower price to other countries than they do domestically.
The US cannot leverage this sort of purchasing power because it does not have a national health service, so the government cannot influence the price of drugs in the same way.
The Trump administration argues that this means US pharmaceutical companies are effectively subsidising foreign health services while artificially inflating prices for American consumers. In May this year, therefore, he signed an executive order aimed at reducing prescription drug prices in the US, stating: “The United States will no longer subsidise the health care of foreign countries.”
When a country grants MFN status, it commits to providing the recipient country with the same trade advantages it gives to any other country with MFN status, but not necessarily the same low prices – prices still vary from country to country. However, it is understood that companies will be expected to offer drugs at their lowest selling price in any other country.
What else has Trump done about the cost of medicines in the US?
The launch of the new website is just one part of Trump’s strategy to reduce prescription medicine prices in the US.
In July this year, he sent a letter to the CEOs of 17 pharmaceutical companies ordering them to reduce their prices.
In the letter, he laid out demands and promises:
- He called on manufacturers to provide MFN prices to every single Medicaid patient.
- He required manufacturers to stipulate that they will not offer other developed nations better prices for new drugs than prices offered in the United States.
- He promised to provide manufacturers with an avenue to cut out middlemen and sell medicines directly to patients, provided they do so at a price no higher than the best price available in developed nations.
- He promised to use trade policy to support manufacturers in raising prices internationally, provided that increased revenues abroad are reinvested directly into lowering prices for American patients and taxpayers.
The new TrumpRx website addresses the first of these promises.
To address the second promise, Trump has also announced new 100 percent tariffs on imported, branded pharmaceutical products. Companies which set up production facilities and operations in the US will be exempt from these.
He cited the cost of prescription drugs as one of the reasons for levying these tariffs.
How much more do medicines cost in the US than other countries?
According to a 2022 study commissioned by the Office of the Assistant Secretary for Planning and Evaluation, published on the US government website, standard insulin prices in the US are as much as 10 times higher than prices in 33 OECD countries.
“Average gross prices in the US were more than 10 times prices in France and the United Kingdom; nearly nine times prices in Italy; more than eight times prices in Japan; about seven times prices in Germany; and more than six times prices in Canada,” the study found.
Many people who take insulin already pay a “net price”, which is lower than the standard price via rebates that the manufacturer agrees with insurance companies. But the net price is still, on average, 2.33 times the price paid in other countries, the report found.
Who will benefit most from this platform?
Anyone who wants to buy prescription drugs direct from pharmaceutical companies, instead of via insurance coverage, at a discounted price can use the platform.
A 2024 report from the US Census Bureau showed that about 8 percent of the US population (26 million people) did not have health insurance in 2023 – so these people may be able to benefit.
The Medicaid programme is also likely to benefit from lower prices as its deal with Pfizer includes more favourable terms. However, details of how this part of the deal will work have not been fully explained.
Currently, most Americans use insurance policies to provide medical care, so initially, most will not use the website, experts said.
Stacie B Dusetzina, professor of health policy at the Vanderbilt University Medical Center in Nashville, told Al Jazeera: “There are a small number of people who may be better off purchasing their medicine this way, but the majority of Americans won’t benefit from this type of model.”
However, she added: “There are other components to the deal that could save the public Medicaid programme money, but without knowing more about how that deal is structured, we can’t say for sure that it would produce savings.”
Which drug companies will sell via the new website?
On Tuesday, Trump said pharma group Pfizer was the first to sign up for the new website.
In return for direct access to consumers, the US pharmaceuticals major has agreed to lower the cost of its prescription drugs for those buying direct via the site (and not using insurance to pay), as well as those on the Medicaid programme. Customers will pay prices closer to “most favoured nation” prices, Trump said.
In a news release, Pfizer said it had “voluntarily agreed to implement measures designed to ensure Americans receive comparable drug prices to those available in other developed countries” and said it will also price “newly launched medicines at parity with other key developed markets”.
“The large majority of the Company’s primary care treatments and some select specialty brands will be offered at savings that will range as high as 85 percent and on average, 50 percent,” the company said in a statement.
The White House and Pfizer gave some examples of primary-care Pfizer medicines which will be available on the TrumpRx website. This is not an exhaustive list:
- Eucrisa, a topical ointment for atopic dermatitis, which will be made available at an 80 percent discount for patients purchasing directly.
- Xeljanz, a widely used oral medication for types of arthritis which will be available at a 40 percent discount.
- Zavzpret, a drug used to treat migraines, which will be sold at a 50 percent discount.
- Duavee, used to treat menopause symptoms, which will be offered at around an 85 percent discount.
- Toviaz, a drug for for overactive bladder.
- Abrilada and Xeljanz, both autoimmune drugs which will be available at significant discounts.
What else have Pfizer and Trump agreed to under this deal?
Pfizer has agreed to reduce drug prices in the US generally, putting prices in line with those paid in other developed countries, the company said.
The group has also committed to spending $70bn on domestic manufacturing facilities, which will be dedicated to “US research, development and capital projects in the next few years”.
In return, the company will be given a three-year grace period from Trump’s tariffs on branded pharmaceuticals made abroad.
“I think today we are turning the tide, and we are reversing an unfair situation,” Pfizer’s CEO Albert Bourla said at a news conference on Tuesday alongside Trump, referring to the difference in prices that people in the US pay for medicines compared with consumers overseas.
Will other drug companies follow suit?
Trump said on Tuesday that other pharmaceutical companies are expected to sign up for the new website, but there have been no new official announcements so far.
“It is clear that the deal that Pfizer struck is a friendly one to the industry,” said Dusetzina. “The companies that received letters requesting that they act are all likely to make agreements that I would expect to be similarly structured.
“If nothing else, these companies will want commitments that they can avoid any potential tariffs. That is worth a lot to them and to their shareholders. It will still be unclear, I think, whether the changes that they make have any tangible benefits for the average American.”
Overseas pharmaceutical companies may be able to sign up as well.
Swiss companies, including Novartis and Roche, said that they were eager to work with the Trump administration to make their drugs more affordable to US patients.
Stephan Mumenthaler, director general of scienceindustries – which represents about 250 Swiss chemical and pharmaceutical companies – told the Reuters news agency on Wednesday that he expected “mini deals” to come from Swiss and global pharmaceutical companies in the coming days.
“They are thinking in similar schemes … How can you omit the margins that middlemen are taking away so that you basically have a similar price than before, but the end consumer still gets a lower price,” he said.
Meanwhile, on Monday, the Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America (PhRMA) announced the launch of its own website AmericasMedicines.com, which will enable consumers to directly buy drugs from manufacturers as well.
In a media release, Stephen J Ubl, president and CEO of PhRMA said: “We need policymakers to protect innovation, fix the broken insurance system that burdens patients with high out-of-pocket costs, and ensure foreign governments pay their fair share.”
How have markets reacted?
Pfizer’s share price rose 7 percent in the US on Tuesday and jumped 8 percent on the UK’s stock exchange on Wednesday.
The announcement of the new website also lifted the shares of European pharmaceutical companies, including Merck, Roche and AstraZeneca by about 5 percent.
