When President Donald Trump took the podium on Tuesday, October 1, 2025, he made an announcement that could reshape how millions of Americans access prescription drugs. The Trump administration, in partnership with pharmaceutical giant Pfizer, is set to launch a new website, TrumpRx, in early 2026. This platform will allow U.S. consumers to buy prescription medicines directly from pharmaceutical companies at discounted prices, bypassing the traditional insurance system. The move, which Trump declared as a bold step to end "global price gouging at the expense of American families," has sent ripples through the pharmaceutical industry and stock markets alike.
According to Al Jazeera, Pfizer was the first to sign up for TrumpRx, promising discounts of up to 85 percent on its medicines for uninsured Americans and Medicaid beneficiaries. The company has also agreed to sell drugs to the Medicaid program itself at lower prices. The deal is part of a broader Trump administration strategy to bring U.S. drug prices more in line with what national health services in countries like Canada, France, Germany, and the United Kingdom pay—so-called "most favoured nation" (MFN) prices.
Trump made it clear at his news conference: "By taking this bold step, we’re ending the era of global price gouging at the expense of American families." The administration argues that U.S. pharmaceutical companies have long subsidized foreign health services by selling drugs abroad at far lower prices than those charged domestically. Without a national health service to negotiate prices, Americans have often paid much more for the same medications.
The plan to launch TrumpRx follows a series of executive actions and direct demands from Trump to pharmaceutical CEOs. In May 2025, he signed an executive order targeting high prescription drug prices. By July, he had sent letters to the heads of 17 major drug companies, insisting they reduce prices and commit to offering MFN prices to every Medicaid patient. Trump also promised to support companies willing to cut out middlemen and sell directly to patients, provided the prices matched the best available in developed countries.
To further pressure the industry, Trump announced 100 percent tariffs on imported branded pharmaceuticals, exempting companies that manufacture domestically. This move, as reported by Al Jazeera, was designed to incentivize companies like Pfizer to invest in U.S. production and pass the savings on to American consumers. In exchange for its commitments, Pfizer secured a three-year grace period from these tariffs and pledged to invest $70 billion in U.S.-based manufacturing and research projects.
The stark reality of U.S. drug pricing was underscored by a 2022 government study cited by Al Jazeera: standard insulin prices in the U.S. were found to be up to ten times higher than in 33 other OECD countries. Even after accounting for rebates and insurance discounts, Americans still paid on average more than twice what patients in other countries paid. For the roughly 26 million Americans—about 8 percent of the population—who lacked health insurance in 2023, the new TrumpRx platform could offer a lifeline.
TrumpRx will allow anyone, insured or not, to search for prescription medications and purchase them directly from manufacturers at prices much closer to those paid by foreign health services. Medicaid beneficiaries are also eligible. The list of discounted Pfizer drugs includes Eucrisa, a topical ointment for atopic dermatitis, at an 80 percent discount; Xeljanz, an arthritis medication, at 40 percent off; Zavzpret, a migraine treatment, at 50 percent off; and Duavee, used for menopause symptoms, at about an 85 percent discount. While these savings are significant, some drugs—like Xeljanz, which costs around $6,000 per month at standard prices—will remain expensive even after discounts. For insured Americans, out-of-pocket costs can still be as low as $20 a month, highlighting the complexity of the U.S. drug pricing system.
Pfizer’s CEO, Albert Bourla, stood alongside Trump at the announcement, stating, "I think today we are turning the tide, and we are reversing an unfair situation." The company said in a statement it had "voluntarily agreed to implement measures designed to ensure Americans receive comparable drug prices to those available in other developed countries." It also committed to pricing newly launched medicines at parity with other key developed markets. According to Pfizer, "The large majority of the Company’s primary care treatments and some select specialty brands will be offered at savings that will range as high as 85 percent and on average, 50 percent."
The agreement is widely seen as a win for both Trump and Pfizer. The Washington Post reported that the deal was reached after Trump used the threat of tariffs as leverage, and that the arrangement benefits both the company and American consumers. The broader impact was immediately felt in the markets: Pfizer’s shares jumped 7 percent in the U.S. and 8 percent in the U.K. following the announcement, while shares of European pharmaceutical firms such as Merck, Roche, and AstraZeneca rose about 5 percent.
Other pharmaceutical companies are expected to follow Pfizer’s lead. Trump indicated that additional deals are likely, and Swiss firms like Novartis and Roche have expressed interest in participating. Stephan Mumenthaler, director general of scienceindustries (which represents Swiss chemical and pharmaceutical companies), told Reuters he anticipated "mini deals" in the coming days, with companies looking to cut out middlemen and pass savings directly to consumers.
The Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America (PhRMA) has responded by launching its own competing platform, AmericasMedicines.com, which will also enable consumers to buy drugs directly from manufacturers. In a statement, PhRMA president Stephen J. Ubl said, "We need policymakers to protect innovation, fix the broken insurance system that burdens patients with high out-of-pocket costs, and ensure foreign governments pay their fair share."
Despite the excitement, some experts remain skeptical about the long-term impact on drug prices. The pricing of prescription drugs is notoriously opaque, with confidential discounts and rebates making it difficult to determine the true cost. Alistair McGuire, a professor at the London School of Economics, told Al Jazeera, "There is no transparency about the price." He warned that some drug companies might respond by withholding new products from foreign markets to avoid lowering U.S. prices, or by maintaining high list prices while offering secret discounts to select buyers.
Stacie B. Dusetzina, a health policy professor at Vanderbilt University, told Al Jazeera, "There are a small number of people who may be better off purchasing their medicine this way, but the majority of Americans won’t benefit from this type of model." She added, "There are other components to the deal that could save the public Medicaid programme money, but without knowing more about how that deal is structured, we can’t say for sure that it would produce savings."
As the TrumpRx platform prepares to launch, it remains to be seen just how much relief it will offer to American consumers struggling with high drug costs. What’s clear is that, for now, the pharmaceutical industry is paying close attention—and so are millions of Americans hoping for a better deal at the pharmacy counter.