Washington, May 19 (IANS) US President Donald Trump on Monday announced a major expansion of his administration’s prescription drug discount platform, claiming Americans would now have access to hundreds of additional low-cost medicines through the government-backed website TrumpRX.gov.
At a healthcare affordability event at the White House, Trump said the number of medicines available on the platform would increase nearly seven-fold, with more than 600 generic drugs being added in partnership with pharmacy and pharmaceutical companies.
“Americans paid the highest drug prices anywhere in the world by far,” Trump said. “Under the most favoured nation agreements I negotiated, we now pay the lowest price paid for anybody in any country.”
Trump claimed the platform had already attracted more than 10 million visits since its launch earlier this year and had saved consumers over $400 million. He described it as “the hottest thing in medicine”.
The President said the expanded platform would include discounts on drugs used for diabetes, obesity, fertility treatment and insulin. He argued that many Americans were unaware of lower-cost generic alternatives and said the new system would help consumers compare prices before buying medicines.
“We went from the most expensive to the least expensive,” Trump said. “There’s never been anything like this.”
Among those appearing alongside Trump at the event was billionaire entrepreneur Mark Cuban, co-founder of Cost Plus Drugs, whose company joined the initiative.
Cuban praised the programme and said cheaper medicines had support across political lines.
“Republicans want cheaper drugs, independents want cheaper drugs, Democrats want cheaper drugs and together, I think we’re going to do something special,” Cuban said.
He said 559 of the newly added medicines on the platform came from Cost Plus Drugs.
Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. called rising healthcare costs an “existential threat” and praised Trump for pushing pharmaceutical companies to lower prices.
“Almost 1 in 3 Americans, when they go to a drugstore, cannot afford to pick up the medications that their doctor prescribed for them,” Kennedy said.
Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services Administrator Mehmet Oz described the platform as “the best transparency site ever created for medications”.
–IANS
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