Press secretary Karoline Leavitt responds to a report the Trump administration is negotiating a take care of weight reduction drugmakers.
Eli Lilly and Novo Nordisk, whose weight loss-related medicine have created a frenzy, are working with the Trump administration on a deal that will lower the price of the bottom doses of their well-liked medicine to $149 for a month’s provide, sources conversant in the matter informed The Wall Road Journal.
As a part of the deal, which could possibly be introduced as quickly as Thursday, the medicine can be bought by way of TrumpRx, a forthcoming government-run initiative anticipated to launch subsequent yr that may join customers immediately with drug producers to buy discounted prescribed drugs with out insurance coverage.
Underneath the deal, Medicare and Medicaid would additionally cowl the medicine for weight reduction, successfully boosting the variety of sufferers who can entry the drug, the sources informed the Journal.
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A Novo Nordisk spokesperson informed FOX Enterprise the corporate “is engaged in constructive discussions with the administration concerning the Most Favored Nation govt order,” which is aimed toward reducing U.S. drug costs by requiring that Medicare pay no extra for sure prescribed drugs than the bottom value paid by different developed nations.
Wegovy injection pens organized in Waterbury, Vt., April 28, 2025. (Shelby Knowles/Bloomberg by way of Getty Photographs / Getty Photographs)
“We stay centered on enhancing affected person entry and affordability, and we are going to proceed to work to seek out options that assist individuals entry the treatment they want,” the spokesperson mentioned. Novo Nordisk didn’t touch upon the actual deal.
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Eli Lilly informed FOX Enterprise it’s also in discussions with the administration “to additional develop affected person entry, protect innovation and promote the affordability of our medicines.” It declined to supply particular particulars concerning the dialogue.
Nonetheless, the sources mentioned President Donald Trump may make an announcement as quickly as Thursday alongside pharmaceutical executives.
A customs investigator holds a bundle of Ozempic throughout a presentation of seized doping brokers, medicine and belongings equivalent to money and gold on the Hamburg Customs Investigation Workplace April 17, 2025. (Marcus Brandt/image alliance by way of Getty Photographs / Getty Photographs)
White Home press secretary Karoline Leavitt additionally declined to touch upon the specifics of the deal throughout a press convention Tuesday however mentioned the president has beforehand famous that this has been an enormous precedence for the administration.
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“I will not get forward of the president on any future bulletins, however I’ll echo his robust dedication to bringing down drug costs on this nation,” Leavitt mentioned. “And you’ve got heard it immediately from Secretary Kennedy and Dr. Marty McCaffrey and his complete Well being and Human Providers workforce how dedicated the president is to bringing down the price of medicine.”
She additionally mentioned the administration has been working with the “pharmaceutical firms to try this daily.”
Injection pens for the load loss remedy Wegovy, manufactured by Novo Nordisk A/S, on show throughout a information convention in Mumbai, India, June 24, 2025. (Dhiraj Singh/Bloomberg by way of Getty Photographs / Getty Photographs)
Each firms have already launched their very own direct-to-consumer platforms aimed toward increasing affected person entry by limiting the obstacles new sufferers face.
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Novo Nordisk launched its platform, NovoCarePharmacy, in March, permitting sufferers who couldn’t afford the usual listing value or lacked insurance coverage protection for its extremely coveted medicine Wegovy and Ozempic.
Lilly’s platform, LillyDirect, which launched in early 2024, permits some customers who lack insurance coverage or who’re insured or lack ample protection to entry Zepbound and Mounjaro immediately from Eli Lilly with out going by way of insurance coverage.