{"id":314351,"date":"2026-03-05T13:41:09","date_gmt":"2026-03-05T13:41:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/314351\/"},"modified":"2026-03-05T13:41:09","modified_gmt":"2026-03-05T13:41:09","slug":"trumprx-high-expectations-but-limited-impact-a-month-after-launch","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/314351\/","title":{"rendered":"TrumpRx: High expectations, but limited impact a month after launch"},"content":{"rendered":"

WASHINGTON \u2014 President Trump heralded<\/a> his signature drug discount platform, TrumpRx<\/a>, as \u201cone of the most transformative health care initiatives of all time.\u201d<\/p>\n

But a month after its launch, few drugs are available, data about how much the site is being used remains unknown, and the private deals underlying TrumpRx are still being worked out.<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\"\"\t\t<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\tTrumpRx claims to offer the lowest prices. But many drugs have cheaper generics<\/a><\/p>\n

The reality of the early days of the platform comes in sharp contrast to the soaring expectations set by the president, who cast a vision for unprecedented cuts to how much people pay for medications, pharmaceutical market experts and patient advocates said. The administration is making its efforts to reduce drug prices a key part of its midterm election case that it has made health care more affordable, despite cuts across America\u2019s health systems, including historic reductions to Medicaid spending.<\/p>\n

\u201cSome are going to benefit, and others \u2014 probably the majority \u2014 won\u2019t,\u201d Michelle Long, senior policy manager for KFF\u2019s Program on Patient and Consumer Protections, said of TrumpRx. \u201cIs it the greatest thing in the health care world? Clearly no.\u201d<\/p>\n

In response to questions from STAT, administration officials declined to offer details on the number of new drugs expected to be added, when that may happen, or on how many people have used the site.\u00a0<\/p>\n

But they have continued touting it. \u201cPresident Trump is DELIVERING,\u201d Assistant Secretary for Health Brian Christine posted on social media on Tuesday, with a link to the site.<\/p>\n

How many drugs will be added to TrumpRx \u2014 and when?<\/p>\n

Concerns about the program fulfilling its huge promises cropped up immediately upon launch. Almost half the 43 drugs listed on TrumpRx were already available more cheaply as generics, a STAT analysis found<\/a>. Plus, spending on TrumpRx typically doesn\u2019t count toward insurance deductibles.<\/p>\n

At launch, Joe Gebbia, the U.S. chief design officer who helped build the site, said the administration would add \u201cmore and more drugs, week over week.\u201d A month later, the site has 44, a tiny slice of the 24,000 prescription drugs<\/a> that federal regulators have approved.<\/p>\n

And the agreements between the White House and drugmakers are still being finalized<\/a>, according to financial disclosures from companies, months after Oval Office announcements celebrating the deals.<\/p>\n

The relatively limited number of drugs caps TrumpRx\u2019s impact on American patients.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is only a small number of prescription drugs available on TrumpRx,\u201d Long said. \u201cI think this is going to make a very small dent, if any, in terms of cost.\u201d<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\"\"\t\t<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\"\"\/
\n\t\t\t\tSTAT Plus: White House looks for more drug pricing deals to add to TrumpRx<\/a><\/p>\n

Companies that struck deals with the administration, along with administration officials, are in the process of adding more drugs to the site, according to people familiar with the matter, but the timelines are uncertain.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Upon launching the site, a White House fact sheet said drugs would initially include those made by the first five companies to strike deals with the administration: AstraZeneca, Eli Lilly, EMD Serono, Novo Nordisk, and Pfizer. Others would be added \u201cin the coming months,\u201d it said.\u00a0<\/p>\n

A spokesperson for Genentech, for example, said in a statement that the company \u201ccontinues to work with the U.S. Government to list our influenza portfolio on TrumpRX.\u201d And a spokesperson for Boehringer Ingelheim said the company \u201clook[s] forward to Boehringer products being available soon.\u201d<\/p>\n

Among the companies with drugs on the site, the number of medications offered appears to be fewer than expected. Pfizer, for example, was expected to offer \u201cvirtually all\u201d of its drugs at a discount on the platform, according to a White House chart presented at the announcement of the deal with the company.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Thirty of Pfizer\u2019s hundreds of drugs sold in the U.S. are currently available on TrumpRx, and the company did not respond to questions about plans to add more.<\/p>\n

\u201cRight now, we have listed the large majority of our primary care treatments, and some select specialty brands at savings averaging 50% and as high as 85%,\u201d a Pfizer spokesperson said in a statement. \u201cWe will make regular assessments and adjustments as the program evolves.\u201d<\/p>\n

The other companies that announced deals with the White House either did not respond to requests for comment or were noncommittal about when \u2014 or if \u2014 they would add more drugs to the website.<\/p>\n

TrumpRx offers meaningful discounts on fertility drugs<\/p>\n

Still, the Trump administration has worked to highlight the cases in which the discounts have made a measurable difference. The president invited the first patient who purchased medication via the website to his State of the Union address last month.\u00a0<\/p>\n

That person got an IVF drug through the site. The lower cash prices for those drugs are likely to help patients, Long said, because many pay outside of insurance coverage and there aren\u2019t generic alternatives for those drugs.<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\"\"\t\t<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\tTrump touts lower drug costs and anti-fraud measures in lengthy State of the Union<\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cI took prescription drugs, a very big part of health care, from the highest price in the entire world to the lowest,\u201d Trump told Congress at his address<\/a>. \u201cThat\u2019s a big achievement.\u201d<\/p>\n

The inclusion on TrumpRx of other drugs that have high cash prices and aren\u2019t covered by insurance could also have a notable impact on certain populations, Long said, including some medications to treat cancer or HIV.<\/a><\/p>\n

But the full impact of the program remains unknown. A poll last month from YouGov found just under a quarter of respondents said they would be somewhat or very likely to use the site. Mentioning Trump\u2019s name in the polling made Democrats less interested \u2014 but boosted Republicans\u2019 desire to use the site.<\/p>\n

Administration officials have yet to release data about how many people are using the platform, despite promises to do so.\u00a0<\/p>\n

How many people are using TrumpRx?<\/p>\n

On Feb. 17, Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services Administrator Mehmet Oz said that the administration would be releasing specific numbers \u201cover the next week,\u201d touting the site\u2019s \u201cmillions and millions of users, billions of searches, and hundreds of thousands of prescription coupons already doled out.\u201d<\/p>\n

CMS and White House officials did not respond to requests for comment about the future of the program or the number of people who have used it so far.<\/p>\n

The site\u2019s reach online is another signal of its limited impact. Software that provide Web traffic estimates are known for widely different results, but the trend of declining interest is clear.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Similarweb estimates 439,000 monthly visitors to TrumpRx, while Semrush has the number at 178,000. Glimpse, which measures Google search interest, reports 1.3 million searches for TrumpRx in the last 30 days, with a high of 569,000 on Feb. 6, right after TrumpRx\u2019s launch. Searches now stand at about 11,000 a day over the last few weeks.<\/p>\n

Still, other drugmakers are seeking to make deals with the administration to potentially have their products listed on TrumpRx, according to two people familiar with the efforts. White House officials have signaled their openness<\/a> to new deals as well.<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\"\"\t\t<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\"\"\/
\n\t\t\t\tSTAT Plus: Is the White House\u2019s deal with pharma on GLP-1 drugs a game changer?\u00a0<\/a><\/p>\n

Last week, Kennedy touted the program as helping lower prices for patients paying with insurance and cash alike, a claim an HHS spokesperson doubled down on, saying the transparency of the new prices would have an impact across the market. Neither provided evidence that copays had dropped, and Long said she didn\u2019t see how that would happen unless a drug isn\u2019t covered by insurance.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cFor several patients in our community, TrumpRx prices are the same or even higher than what they currently pay with insurance,\u201d Merith Basey, executive director of Patients For Affordable Drugs, said in a statement to STAT. \u201cWhile continued efforts to lower prescription drug prices are encouraged, this program\u2019s design does not address the root cause of high drug costs in the U.S.: the monopolistic pricing strategies of the pharmaceutical industry that prioritize profits over patients.\u201d<\/p>\n

Trump is urging Congress to take further steps to lower drug prices, though it\u2019s not clear that GOP lawmakers favor his approach, which would link U.S. drug prices to what European nations pay.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Several lobbyists representing drugmakers said they don\u2019t see an immediate threat of lawmakers passing these price controls, even as their clients remain concerned about even a small possibility of price control legislation. Still, Republicans looking to hold onto their seats in Congress have promoted Trump\u2019s health agenda as meaningful change in a health sector highly resistant to it.<\/p>\n

At the same time, Democrats have pounced on what they say are TrumpRx\u2019s failures. House Energy and Commerce Committee Democrats released a report<\/a> last month titled \u201cTrumpRx: Big Talk, Little Savings,\u201d while Senate Democrats asked<\/a> the Office of Inspector General at the federal health department to review the site over concerns about \u201cinappropriate prescribing, conflicts of interest, and inadequate care.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Trump administration, though, shows no signs of pulling back. A banner at the top of TrumpRx reads: \u201cWe\u2019re just getting started.\u201d<\/p>\n

Gary Marshall contributed reporting.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"WASHINGTON \u2014 President Trump heralded his signature drug discount platform, TrumpRx, as \u201cone of the most transformative health…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":314352,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[34],"tags":[1673,8310,65,53550,134,527,40330,111,139,69,1674,7254,5189],"class_list":{"0":"post-314351","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-healthcare","8":"tag-biotechnology","9":"tag-congress","10":"tag-donald-trump","11":"tag-drug-prices","12":"tag-health","13":"tag-healthcare","14":"tag-hhs","15":"tag-new-zealand","16":"tag-newzealand","17":"tag-nz","18":"tag-pharmaceuticals","19":"tag-policy","20":"tag-white-house"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/314351","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=314351"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/314351\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/314352"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=314351"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=314351"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=314351"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}