Donald Trump has used an anecdote about a “seriously overweight” friend who takes the “fat shot” to highlight drug price discrepancies.
The U.S. president was speaking to reporters at the White House, explaining an executive order aimed at slashing high pharmaceutical prices in the U.S.
While the U.S. has less than 5% of the world’s population, it funds around three-quarters of global pharmaceutical profits, according to the order.
Highlights
- Trump highlighted a friend's experience paying $88 for a weight loss drug in London vs. $1,300 for the same drug in New York.
- The U.S. makes up less than 5% of the world population but funds about 75% of global pharmaceutical profits, according to an executive order signed by Trump.
- Trump's executive order aims to significantly slash drug prices, ending what he says is the U.S. subsidy of cheaper foreign drug markets.
Trump said his friend paid $88 for a weight loss shot in London but $1,300 in the U.S.
Image credits: The White House
To highlight his point, Trump described a recent phone call with a friend who was in the U.K.
“A friend of mine who’s a businessman—very, very, very top guy, most of you would have heard of him—a highly neurotic, brilliant businessman, seriously overweight, and he takes the fat shot,” Trump said.
“And he called me up … he’s a rough guy, smart guy, very successful, very rich … ‘President, could I ask you a question? I’m in London, and I just paid for this damn fat drug I take.’
“I said, ‘It’s not working,’” Trump quipped.
Image credits: The White House
“He said, ‘I just paid $88, and in New York I pay $1,300. What the hell is going on?’
“He said, ‘So I checked, and it’s the same box made in the same plant by the same company. It’s the identical pill that I buy in New York. And here I’m paying $88 in London, and in New York, I’m paying $1,300.’”
“Now, this is a great businessman, so—but he’s not familiar with this crazy situation that we have. But he was stunned,” Trump added.
“I brought it up with the drug companies, represented by somebody who’s very, very smart, a good person too.
“And we argued about it for about a half-hour. And then finally, he just said, because they can’t justify it, he just said, ‘Look, you got me. You got me. I can no longer justify.’”
Elon Musk has previously confirmed he takes Mounjaro for weight loss
Image credits: The White House
The anecdote has led to speculation about who Trump was referencing, but the president did not confirm the businessman’s name.
Staunch Trump ally and DOGE de facto head Elon Musk has previously confirmed he takes Mounjaro for weight loss.
He described himself as “Ozempic Santa” at Christmas and said he had originally tried Ozempic but switched to Mounjaro, as it has fewer side effects.
Trump has claimed that big pharma companies sell cheaper products to foreign markets and subsidize the discount by charging American consumers significantly more.
Image credits: The White House
Drug companies rely heavily on public funding for research through the National Institutes of Health and for drug purchases through federal and state health-care programs, the executive order says.
Americans are sometimes paying almost three times more for the exact same medicines, often made in the same factories, it added.
Drug prices will come down from between 50% to even 90%, Trump said during a press conference.
“The United States will no longer subsidize the healthcare of foreign countries—and we’ll no longer tolerate profiteering and price gouging from Big Pharma,” Trump said.
Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. said every Democratic leader in the past 20 years has promised to lower the drug price discrepancy between the U.S. and Europe.
“This was the fulcrum of Bernie Sanders’ run for presidency,” he said.
RFK Jr. said he never thought drug price reductions would happen in his lifetime
Image credits: The White House
“It’s one of these promises that politicians make to their constituents, knowing that they’ll never have to do it.
“I never thought that this would happen in my lifetime. I have a couple of kids who are big Bernie Sanders fans, and when I told them that this was gonna happen, they had tears in their eyes.
“We finally have a president who’s willing to stand up for the American people.”