GoodRx, an online platform that offers drug discount coupons to patients, is in talks with the government to participate in the forthcoming TrumpRx program.
As more and more drugmakers are launching direct-to-consumer marketing platforms and working with the government’s upcoming TrumpRx program, pharmacies and health companies are looking to carve out a role in this new system as well.
GoodRx has approached the Trump administration for potential involvement in TrumpRx, the administration’s recently announced direct-to-consumer pharmaceutical sales website, Reuters reported on Thursday. It is yet unclear how exactly the telehealth company will fit into this federal project.
GoodRx offers patients vouchers they can claim at certain pharmacies for discounts on prescription drugs. “If we include the pharma direct programs, we also have to find a way to convey competitive cash pricing at retail pharmacies,” GoodRx CEO Wendy Barnes told Reuters in an interview.
An increasing number of drugmakers have in recent months started their own DTC efforts. Pfizer last week joined government officials to announce that it would list some of its products on TrumpRx, offering “a significant discount.” It is not clear yet which of Pfizer’s medicines will be available on TrumpRx, with the pharma saying only that “the large majority” of its primary care drugs and “some select” brands will be offered, with discounts averaging 50%.
The pharma has rolled out DTC efforts in the past, including a joint program with Bristol Myers Squibb in July, in which the companies offered their blockbuster blood thinner Eliquis at a 40% discount. Pfizer launched its own DTC portal in August 2024, PfizerForAll, giving patients direct access to its migraine and respiratory products.
Following in Pfizer’s footsteps, Amgen earlier this week also rolled out its own DTC platform, called AmgenNow, where it will offer its lipid-lowering drug Repatha for $239, roughly 60% cheaper than its current list price of $527.70. Notably, Amgen in its release claimed that this is the lowest DTC Repatha price among G7 countries and that such a discount is being offered for the first time in the U.S.
Other companies have likewise launched DTC programs in the past, including obesity leaders Novo Nordisk and Eli Lilly.
Also looking to join are retail pharmacies. The National Community of Pharmacists Association and the National Association of Chain Drug Stores, which includes Costco and Walgreens, are also in talks with the government about joining TrumpRx, according to the Reuters report.
A White House spokesperson told the publication that “as long as drugmakers deliver cost savings for American patients through TrumpRx, how they do so is irrelevant.”
