The White House is planning to unveil a direct-to-consumer website for Americans to buy drugs, dubbed TrumpRx, as well as announce that Pfizer plans to lower prices on several of its medications in the U.S., according to people familiar with the matter.
Shares of Pfizer jumped nearly 4% on the news.
TrumpRx would allow people to pay cash for certain drugs directly from a government website, at a discounted price negotiated by the government. It’s unclear how many drugs would be offered, or whether the website would be useful for the majority of Americans who are already covered by private insurance, Medicare or Medicaid.
Pfizer is expected to be the first to announce a plan to lower drug costs after President Trump pushed companies for months to lower prices in the U.S. More companies are expected to follow suit.
Trump and Albert Bourla, the chief executive of Pfizer, are set to announce the cost-cutting measure at the White House later today, according to a White House official. Bourla is also expected to announce a $70 billion investment on manufacturing medications in the U. S., according to Pfizer spokeswoman Amy Rose and a White House official.
The official estimated Pfizer’s lowered prices could benefit as many as 100 million patients.
「It’s a win for American patients, a win for American leadership, and it’s a win for Pfizer because it provides the certainty and stability we need to continue advancing new breakthrough medicines for patients,」 said Rose.
「President Trump is leveraging the power of the federal government to drastically cut drug prices for everyday Americans,」 said White House spokesman Kush Desai. 「Democrats talked the talk for decades about drug prices, but only President Trump is actually walking the walk.」