By Steve Holland and Ahmed Aboulenein
WASHINGTON, May 18 (Reuters) – U.S. President Donald Trump said on Monday that TrumpRx.gov, a government-backed website that lists discounted prescription drugs, will begin featuring generic medicines, including widely used drugs such as cholesterol treatment atorvastatin and diabetes drug metformin.
More than 600 generics will be available through the website, Trump said, part of an effort by the administration to expand access to lower-cost medicines.
TrumpRx, launched in January, is part of Trump’s most-favored-nation pricing deals with drugmakers aimed at lowering prescription drug costs to levels seen in other developed nations. It initially only featured branded medicines. The site does not sell drugs directly but rather sends patients to other sites to buy the medicines.
More than 90% of medicines sold in the U.S. are generics, according to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.
“I’m thrilled to announce that we’re increasing the number of drugs available on TrumpRx by nearly seven times, adding over 600 affordable generics to the website,” Trump said at a White House event, attended by billionaire Mark Cuban.
Cuban sells discounted medicines directly to consumers through his Cost Plus Drugs online pharmacy.
The generics and their prices will be listed separately from discounts on high-cost branded drugs, the White House said. Prices at local pharmacies and discounts from Amazon Pharmacy, Cost Plus Drugs, and GoodRx will be integrated into TrumpRx.
Controlled substances and drugs with FDA-mandated restrictions known as risk evaluation and mitigation strategies, or REMS, will not be available on the website, nor will drugs not commonly sold directly to consumers.
Trump secured agreements with 17 major pharmaceutical companies to align U.S. prescription prices with those in other developed nations in exchange for three-year tariff exemptions on imports.
The administration says the deal is expected to generate $64.3 billion in federal and state savings in the next 10 years.
While Trump has pledged to make prescription drugs cheaper for Americans than anywhere in the world, prices on the website are not lower than those paid in the United Kingdom, according to a Reuters comparison of publicly available prices.
How much consumers will save is uncertain. The website is targeted at consumers looking to buy drugs without using insurance, meaning that most purchases would not count toward patients’ insurance deductibles.
(Reporting by Ahmed Aboulenein, Steve Holland, Costas Pitas, Daphne Psaledakis, Katharine Jackson and Michael Erman; editing by Michelle Nichols and Sanjeev Miglani)
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