The head of the Food and Drug Administration on Thursday praised a plan announced by the White House earlier this week that President Trump said aims to reduce the cost of prescription drugs, calling it a “major step” toward more affordable treatment for Americans.
On Tuesday, the president announced that pharmaceutical giant Pfizer had agreed to be part of a new direct-to-consumer government purchasing platform known as TrumpRx, which Pfizer said will allow “American patients to purchase Pfizer medicines at a significant discount.”
The president said Pfizer had “agreed to offer countless prescription drugs at deeply discounted prices in the United States.”
Pfizer is the first of several drugmakers that the president says have agreed to offer deep drug discounts to all Americans through TrumpRx, in line with the lowest prices paid by Europeans.
“We have seen this disparity for a long time and we know it is not sustainable,” the FDA commissioner said. Dr Marty Makary told CBS News in an interview Thursday.
The president also said Pfizer had agreed to reduce the cost of prescription drugs it provides to Medicaid recipients.
“Pfizer is committed to making all of its prescription drugs available to Medicaid at top-tier prices,” Trump said.
Makary says the deal between the Trump administration and Pfizer will help lower health care costs across the board.
“By getting a handle on sky-high drug prices, we’re actually addressing the larger problem of health care costs in the United States, a problem that no one has really been able to get a handle on until now,” Makary said.
According to Pfizer, TrumpRx will save up to 85% on certain medications, such as Duavee, a drug that treats menopausal symptoms.
The Duavee sticker price is $203 per month, but according to Pfizer, on TrumpRx it will cost $30 per month. Xeljanz, a Pfizer arthritis drug, currently costs $6,000 a month, but on TrumpRx it will cost around $3,600.
“It’s a major step, a very important one, and we have to take it,” Makary told CBS News when asked if, even with the cuts, the drugs would remain unaffordable for many Americans.
The Trump administration has said the TrumpRx website will launch next year, but Makarty did not specify a timeline.
Makary believes that patients with health insurance who still cannot afford certain medications will still be helped by TrumpRx.
“I think this is going to help them significantly,” Makary said. “You’re going to see a series of announcements from different pharmaceutical companies. This has been the No. 1 health priority of this administration.”
Sarah Wisniewski, a Maryland resident in her 40s, has lived with multiple sclerosis since 2018. Although she says she has good insurance, it has repeatedly failed to cover the specialized medications her doctor prescribed to slow the progression of her disease. In 2024, when her doctor recommended a treatment that might help, she claims her insurance company denied her coverage three times. It was only approved after intervention by Maryland’s attorney general.
When CBS News asked Makarty about Wisniewski, he explained, “I’ve seen this story throughout my career as a cancer surgeon, and it’s tragic, and we haven’t seen anything about drug prices in the last 50 years.” »
More than 90 percent of Americans have some form of health insurance, but many still struggle to afford essential medications. Wisniewski told CBS News she is skeptical of the new TrumpRx program.
“If big pharmaceutical companies are not forced to put their drugs on this market, and if they are not forced to lower prices, then it seems like a toothless, symbolic statement, instead of having a real, long-term impact on the lives of clinically ill people,” she said.
She also questioned how the administration plans to pressure pharmaceutical companies to list the most urgent medications on the platform. Even at 50 or 80 percent less expensive, she says, some of these drugs remain unaffordable.
Makary told CBS News that this is just the beginning of the solution:
“Every year we invest a lot of money into a broken system where we pay more and more for drugs,” Makary said. “This is the first time we are seeing a major reset: a reduction in the price of certain drugs, not all, but some, by 50 to 80%.”
Stacie Dusetzina, a prescription drug industry expert and professor of health policy at Vanderbilt University Medical Center, says the president’s plan won’t reduce out-of-pocket drug costs for most Americans.
“The reality of who can actually benefit from paying cash for these medications through this website will likely affect a smaller number of people than what is advertised,” Dusetzina said.
Sean Sullivan, a health economist at the University of Washington, also previously expressed doubts to CBS News about the extent to which the program would help Americans save money.
“Most patients have drug coverage…Very few will purchase drugs with cash unless the drug is not covered by a covered benefit, such as weight loss or erectile dysfunction drugs,” he said.
and Kathryn Watson contributed to this report.
