President Donald Trump has frequently claimed to have reduced drug prices by hundreds of percent, sometimes up to 1500%, according to major media reports. A 1500% reduction would mean the buyer is paid to take the drug, as a 100% reduction brings the value to zero. Senator Elizabeth Warren noted in a Senate hearing that Trump claims a 600% reduction, which would imply drug companies paying the buyer. Warren pointed out that a drop from $600 to $10 is a 98% reduction, not 600%.
Trump said there are different ways to calculate percentage reductions, and people understand it better when he says 50%, 60%, 70%, 80%, or 90%. He added that whether it's 60, 70, or 80 percent, no one has ever heard of such reductions, and it could also be 500, 600, or 700 depending on how you look at it. Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. said Trump has a different way of calculating percentages, citing that a drop from $600 to $10 is a 600% reduction. Kennedy also said that if a drug costs $100 and rises to $600, that's a 600% increase; if it drops from $600 to $100, that's a 600% savings. According to Ilta-Sanomat, Kennedy described the United States as having never had a president as sane as Trump. Warren responded on X that made-up math doesn't change the truth: TrumpRx is a scam. She claimed that over a quarter of drugs on TrumpRx are more expensive for consumers compared to prices available elsewhere, sometimes many times more expensive. Kennedy argued Warren's comparisons were invalid because she compared brand-name drugs to generics, even though they are chemically identical. Warren also noted that Trump has exempted drug companies participating in TrumpRx from 100% of tariffs in exchange for listing their drugs, even though many have not lowered prices.
President Trump will announce a deal with Regeneron to lower drug costs as part of the most-favored-nation drug pricing initiative, according to multiple reports. The deal involves Regeneron lowering prices of current and future drugs on Medicaid and selling Praluent for $225 on TrumpRx. Regeneron is the final of 17 major pharmaceutical companies to strike a most-favored-nation deal with the Trump administration. Regeneron has committed to spending nearly $10 billion to bring pharmaceutical production to the US. Trump's deals have historically offered companies relief on tariffs in exchange for such commitments. The details of the drug-pricing agreements have not been made public. Kennedy said his team would share whatever details it could that didn't include proprietary information or trade secrets. Trump and Kennedy have urged Congress to codify the deals into law.