TrumpRx is scheduled to go live on Thursday
The Trump administration plans to launch a website Thursday evening that will help American patients buy prescription drugs directly from drugmakers with their own money.
Karoline Leavitt, the press secretary, said in a post on X that Mr. Trump would hold an event to unveil the site at 7 p.m. She claimed that millions of Americans would save money by using the site, although researchers who study drug prices warned that some Americans could be overpaying by using the site.
The government website TrumpRx.gov does not sell drugs. Instead, it is intended to be an entry point through which consumers can search for their medications and then navigate to major manufacturers’ websites to purchase medications directly. Patients still need a prescription.
The TrumpRx website is expected to feature dozens of medications, including well-known and widely used products like Wegovy and Zepbound for weight loss and Humira for conditions like arthritis. Prices on the site are expected to vary widely: A month’s supply of the blood thinner Plavix is expected to cost $16, while the hepatitis C drug Epclusa is expected to cost $2,425.
It’s not clear how health insurance through TrumpRx will work. Some manufacturers’ direct purchase programs allow people to pay through their health insurance.
It’s also unclear how many consumers will save money by using it. Nearly all of the drugs expected on the site are already widely covered by insurance, and some are available as low-cost generics from competing manufacturers. A person who has low out-of-pocket costs for their medication through their insurance could be wasting hundreds of dollars per year paying with their own money through TrumpRx.
“There may be patients who think this is a good deal and end up worse off financially,” said Rachel Sachs, a law professor who studies drug pricing at Washington University in St. Louis.
There are some circumstances in which a patient might benefit from using TrumpRx, experts said. People who don’t have insurance coverage for a drug and can’t switch to a suitable, insured alternative may find a better price on the president’s website than if they went to a pharmacy. However, experts recommend checking a price comparison website like GoodRx first.
Some of the obesity and infertility medications expected to be offered on the site are often not covered by insurance, so patients often have to pay for them out of their own funds.
That’s why patients are flocking to manufacturers’ direct purchase sites for obesity medications. According to the company, about a million patients have used Eli Lilly’s website, where Zepbound is sold, since it went live two years ago.
Novo Nordisk says 30 percent of patients taking Wegovy injections now buy the drugs with their own money.
