TrumpRx promised a supermarket for cheaper drugs but delivered a boutique

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Fresh Air Wild Card with Rachel Martin It's Been a Minute Embedded Get NPR+ More Podcasts & Shows Search Newsletters NPR Shop Get NPR+ Tiny Desk New Music Friday All Songs Considered Music Features Live Sessions About NPR Diversity Support Careers Press Ethics TrumpRx only offers some brand-name drugs for sale to consumers President Trump said TrumpRx is the biggest thing to happen in healthcare in decades. But an NPR analysis finds drugmakers are only offering deals on a few of their medicines. Health TrumpRx promised a supermarket for cheaper drugs but delivered a boutique July 16, 20265:00 AM ET By Sydney Lupkin A centerpiece of President Trump's push to make prescription medicines more affordable is a government website for drug discounts that carries his own name. TrumpRx, launched in February, now boasts 92 deals on brand-name prescription drugs made by pharmaceutical companies that announced highly publicized agreements with the Trump administration. Loading... A wide range of medicines — including treatments for inflammatory conditions, HIV and cancer — aren't offered by TrumpRx, according to an NPR analysis of a database of drugs on the market maintained by the Food and Drug Administration. Stay up to date with our Up First newsletter, sent every weekday morning. "The key takeaway is that most of these companies are doing this for a small number of products and in a limited setting," says Dr. Ben Rome, a health policy researcher and physician at Brigham and Women's Hospital in Boston. Last summer, the administration sent letters to 17 drug companies with a list of demands. The demands included selling drugs directly to consumers at lower prices, which is something some drug companies, such as Eli Lilly and Novo Nordisk, had already started doing. Drugmakers had 60 days to meet the administration's demands voluntarily, or, the letters stated, "if you refuse to step up, we will deploy every tool in our arsenal to protect American families from continued abusive drug pricing practices." Health Inc. Pharmacists stockpile most common drugs on chance of targeted Trump tariffs Then came the closed-door negotiations, which included the threat of tariffs stemming from an investigation into whether pharmaceutical imports posed a threat to national security. Although the text of the agreements hasn't been made public, the administration began announcing the pacts in the fall, starting with Pfizer. That's also when the administration announced it would create TrumpRx, a government website for direct-to-consumer discounts. "It's the biggest thing to happen in healthcare, I think, in many, many decades," President Trump said during the launch event at the Eisenhower Executive Office Building next to the White House. All 17 companies that received letters have announced agreements with the Trump administration, concluding with Regeneron in April. As of mid-July, there are 92 brand-name drugs on TrumpRx from 15 of the 17 companies that announced deals with the Trump administration. But those companies make more than 800 brand-name drugs that are on the market today, according to NPR's analysis of a Food and Drug Administration database of marketed drugs. Pfizer has 30 drugs listed on TrumpRx, by far the most drugs on the site. But those drugs represent a fraction of the company's portfolio of at least 178 brand-name drugs on the market. In addition, some of the drugs that generate the most revenue for Pfizer are not offered at a TrumpRx discount, according to financial filings. Those include Eliquis, Pfizer's blood thinner marketed with Bristol Myers Squibb, and Ibrance, a drug for advanced and metastatic breast cancer. Pfizer's COVID treatment drug Paxlovid is also nowhere to be found on TrumpRx. Pfizer does offer its blockbuster pill Xeljanz for inflammatory diseases like rheumatoid arthritis for $1,518 on TrumpRx, as much as a 53% discount off the brand-name price. Pfizer said in a statement that it was offering savings as high as 85% off its sticker prices on more than 30 medicines, spanning various treatment areas. "We will continue to make regular assessments and adjustments as the program evolves," Pfizer spokesperson Kat Romaniuk wrote in an email to NPR. The companies tell NPR they will add one drug each: Gilead's Epclusa for hepatitis C and Regeneron's Praluent for bad cholesterol. But when those drugs will appear at a discount on TrumpRx has not been determined, the companies said. In May, TrumpRx added hundreds of generic drugs available at partners like Cost Plus Drugs and Amazon Pharmacy. There is a tab for "presidential deals" on brand-name drugs that have the lowest prices available on the site. A second tab is for drugs with "standard prices," which include generics and some brand-name drugs that cost more than generic options. NPR found that at least some of the 79 presidential deal drugs on TrumpRx also have generic competition. Pristiq, a Pfizer drug for major depressive disorder, is a presidential deal listed on TrumpRx for $200.10, but its generic costs less elsewhere: $20 to $30 with a GoodRx coupon, depending on which pharmacy the patient wants to use. But Merck's biggest drug, Keytruda, a treatment for various cancers, is not available for a discount on TrumpRx and isn't available yet as a generic. The oral cancer medications Lynparza and Lenvima aren't available either. Merck didn't respond to requests for comment in time for publication. Boston University health economist Rena Conti says it's telling that companies haven't added some of their most popular and crucial medicines. "The companies are offering deals on the products that they choose, not the universe of products that they offer," she says. "And that consequently sounds good and may help a small share of people who are purchasing these products at a cash price but are not helping all the consumers of their products." TrumpRx could boost sales a little, she says, and offering discounts to consumers paying cash won't hurt the drugmakers much. The insured market is where they make the majority of their money. She adds that many consumers with health insurance would be better off simply using their coverage to pay for drugs whether those drugs appear on TrumpRx or not. Insurance copays will be cheaper than the discounts, she says. Still, TrumpRx can be useful, particularly for patients whose drugs are not covered by their insurance plans, such as people undergoing fertility treatments and people seeking obesity medications, says Rome of Brigham and Women's Hospital. "But that is not the majority of prescription drugs," he says. NPR didn't receive a response from the White House about how many patients have used the site and the specific drugs people were purchasing most frequently on TrumpRx. Some pharmacists have had patients come in seeking TrumpRx prices, says Ronna Hauser, the senior vice president of policy and pharmacy affairs for the National Community Pharmacists Association. "I wouldn't say that it's extremely common." Most patients who mention TrumpRx are seeking discounts on GLP-1s, she says. GoodRx, which is a website that helps patients find discounts on prescription drugs, has been a key partner for TrumpRx, providing the coupon infrastructure that works in the existing healthcare system. When someone uses a TrumpRx coupon for a brand-name drug at the pharmacy counter, GoodRx processes the claim on the back end. The company told investors in May that it was "seeing encouraging traction" from the site, adding that "early data shows strong demand concentrated in GLP-1 therapies. … expanding access to new patients rather than shifting existing demand." Sponsor Message Become an NPR sponsor