rewrite this title President Trump Launches TrumpRx, Promising Lower Drug Prices: Is It Legit? – Decrypt

TrumpRx.gov, a government-backed platform aimed at slashing U.S. prescription drug prices by tying them to the lowest rates paid in other developed countries, launched late Thursday.

The site, branded as a “most-favored-nation” pricing tool, is positioned as a clearinghouse to help users find the best pricing for prescription drugs. Users can search for medications, see sharply discounted cash prices, generate printable or digital coupons, and are then routed to participating manufacturers or pharmacies to complete purchases. No insurance is required, and no account is needed.

The White House has billed TrumpRx as a transparency play designed to bypass middlemen—pharmacy benefit managers, insurers, and opaque rebate structures that have long distorted U.S. drug pricing. At launch, the platform lists more than 40 branded drugs from major pharmaceutical companies, including Eli Lilly, Novo Nordisk, Pfizer, and AstraZeneca, with additional medications promised in the coming months.



The rollout focused heavily on GLP-1 agonists, the blockbuster drugs used to treat diabetes and obesity that have become a flashpoint in the broader healthcare affordability debate. Monthly list prices for these drugs often exceed $1,000 in the U.S., far higher than prices in Europe or Asia.

Via the TrumpRx portal, those numbers drop sharply for cash-paying users, based on coupons offered by pharma companies:

Ozempic (semaglutide for diabetes) is listed as low as $199 per month, down from roughly $1,028.

Wegovy (semaglutide for obesity) starts at $199 per month for injectable pens, down from $1,349, while the newly approved pill version is listed starting at $149 per month.

Zepbound (tirzepatide) from Eli Lilly appears at $299–$346 per month, compared with list prices exceeding $1,000.

Trump called the cuts—up to 85-93% on certain doses—historic, framing them as the product of direct negotiations with drugmakers and proof that aggressive federal leverage can break what he described as entrenched price-gouging by pharmaceutical giants.

“It’s the biggest thing to happen in health care, I think, in many, many decades,” he said at the White House announcement Thursday. At the event, the administration highlighted other steep discounts, including asthma inhalers from AstraZeneca dropping from $458 to $51. A military spouse spoke about how lower drug prices could reshape family planning and long-term health decisions.

Supporters quickly seized on the announcement as a political and cultural win. Conservative media and pro-Trump accounts on social media circulated screenshots of TrumpRx price listings and launch videos, framing the platform as a rare, tangible intervention in an area where Americans routinely feel powerless. The emphasis on GLP-1 drugs—now entangled with conversations about obesity, productivity, and healthcare access—gave the rollout broader resonance beyond traditional partisan lines.

But critics were equally quick to puncture the narrative.

Health policy experts and Democratic lawmakers have argued that TrumpRx targets a relatively narrow slice of the market: uninsured patients or those paying cash. Most Americans, they noted, rely on insurance plans where copays and negotiated rates may already undercut—or complicate—the TrumpRx pricing.

Others pointed out that similar self-pay discounts for some GLP-1 drugs already exist through private platforms like GoodRx, raising questions about how much of the “savings” represent genuinely new price reductions versus repackaged existing deals with “Trump” branding.

Skeptics also challenged the headline percentage cuts, noting that list prices themselves are inflated artifacts of the U.S. rebate system. In that context, a dramatic discount can still leave patients paying more than international peers—and can obscure who ultimately absorbs the cost difference. On social media and in policy circles, detractors labeled TrumpRx a “gimmick” or a politically timed workaround that avoids deeper reforms to patent law, pharmacy benefit manager incentives, and insurance design.

There are also unanswered questions about sustainability. TrumpRx relies on voluntary manufacturer participation and negotiated pricing, rather than statutory caps. Whether drugmakers continue offering steep discounts once the political spotlight fades—or expand them beyond a curated list of high-profile drugs—remains unclear.

Still, the platform represents a notable escalation in the federal government’s willingness to directly intervene in drug pricing optics, if not yet the underlying system. For millions of Americans managing chronic conditions without insurance—or priced out of coverage—TrumpRx could provide real, immediate relief.

For everyone else, it reopens a familiar question in U.S. healthcare: When prices finally fall, who is actually paying the difference—and who decides how long the discounts last?