TrumpRx’s Limited Selection of Brand-Name Medicines Raises Concerns
The Trump administration’s initiative to make prescription medicines more affordable, TrumpRx, has been touted as a marketplace for better drug prices. However, an analysis of the website’s offerings reveals that the selection of brand-name medicines is surprisingly limited.
As of mid-July, there are 92 brand-name drugs on TrumpRx from 15 of the 17 companies that announced deals with the Trump administration. This represents fewer than 12% of the over 800 brand-name drugs made by the participating pharmaceutical companies.
A wide range of medicines, including treatments for inflammatory conditions, HIV, and cancer, are not offered by TrumpRx. According to an NPR analysis of a database of drugs on the market maintained by the Food and Drug Administration, many of these companies have made agreements with the Trump administration, but they are not engaging with the initiative on a large scale.
Dr. Ben Rome, a health policy researcher and physician at Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston, notes that the key takeaway is that most of these companies are doing this for a small number of products and in a limited setting. They’re not engaging to do this on a large scale.
The Trump administration’s executive order in May 2025 aimed to bring American drug prices in line with or below what other wealthy countries pay. Last summer, the administration sent letters to 17 drug companies with a list of demands, including selling drugs directly to consumers at lower prices.
However, the companies that have announced deals with the Trump administration have not added all of their most popular and crucial medicines to TrumpRx. Boston University health economist Rena Conti notes that the companies are offering deals on the products that they choose, not the universe of products that they offer.
Conti adds that many consumers with health insurance would be better off simply using their coverage to pay for drugs, whether those drugs appear on TrumpRx or not. Insurance copays will be cheaper than the discounts, she says.
TrumpRx can be useful, particularly for patients whose drugs are not covered by their insurance plans. However, it is not the majority of prescription drugs, and it is not the majority of patients who need prescription drugs.
The top of the TrumpRx website claims to have saved more than $400 million dollars for Americans. However, this statistic has not been updated in over a month, and it is difficult to verify.
Pfizer, one of the companies that has announced a deal with the Trump administration, has 30 drugs listed on TrumpRx. However, these drugs represent a fraction of the company’s portfolio of at least 178 brand-name drugs on the market.
Pfizer’s COVID treatment drug Paxlovid is nowhere to be found on TrumpRx. However, Pfizer does offer its blockbuster pill Xeljanz for inflammatory diseases like rheumatoid arthritis for $1,518 on TrumpRx, which is a 53% discount off the brand-name price.
However, Xeljanz is now also available as a generic, called tofacitinib, which can be purchased for about $30 for a bottle of 60 tablets for patients paying out-of-pocket on Mark Cuban’s Costplusdrugs.com website.
TrumpRx has added hundreds of generic drugs available at partners like Cost Plus Drugs and Amazon Pharmacy. The site is effectively divided into two tabs: one for ‘presidential deals’ on brand-name drugs that have the lowest prices available on the site, and another for drugs with ‘standard prices,’ which include generics and some brand-name drugs that cost more than generic options.
NPR found that at least some of the 79 presidential deal drugs on TrumpRx also have generic competition. For example, Januvia and Janumet, two of the three Merck drugs listed as TrumpRx presidential deals, are available as generics.
At $84.57, Janumet on TrumpRx is a better deal than the generic version sold on CostPlusDrugs, where it costs $142.31 for the same strength and number of tablets. Pristiq, a Pfizer drug for major depressive disorder, is a presidential deal listed on TrumpRx for $200.10, but its generic costs less elsewhere: $20 to $30 with a GoodRx coupon, depending on which pharmacy the patient wants to use.
However, Merck’s biggest drug, Keytruda, a treatment for various cancers, is not available for a discount on TrumpRx and isn’t available yet as a generic. The oral cancer medications Lynparza and Lenvima aren’t available either.
Dr. Rome notes that TrumpRx can fill insurance gaps, particularly for patients whose drugs are not covered by their insurance plans. However, it is not the majority of prescription drugs, and it is not the majority of patients who need prescription drugs.
