New White House Initiative: TrumpRx Website

The White House is rolling out two new initiatives aimed at lowering drug prices, though many details remained in flux.

• President Trump said Tuesday that his administration had struck a deal with Pfizer to sell its drugs to Medicaid patients at lower prices, reports the AP. He also suggested deals with other drugmakers would follow.
• He also announced a new TrumpRx website at which people could directly buy medications at prices negotiated by the government, per the Washington Post. It was not clear when the website would be up and running. Drugs from Pfizer will be sold there.

• The impact on everyday Americans was not immediately clear because direct-to-consumer sales are generally for people paying out of pocket rather than through insurance, explains CNBC. Because most people use insurance, such sales "are not going to help the average person at all with achieving lower costs," says Vanderbilt professor Stacie Dusetzina.
• The initiatives follow a Trump executive order in May that pressed pharmaceutical companies to lower prices through voluntary agreements. The deadline for those agreements expired Monday. Because of its deal, Pfizer gets a three-year grace period to avoid tariffs on drugs made overseas.
• "The American consumers have been subsidizing research and development costs for the entire planet," Trump said in the Oval Office, per the Wall Street Journal. "It's being changed as of today."