President Trump (00:01):
… have agreed to offer their most popular GLP-1 weight loss drug, I call it the fat drug, remember, at drastic discounts. They're very effective drugs. So far I've never heard anything bad about them. I only hear good about it. It's pretty… Is there anything bad about them, Bob? Yeah, there have been [inaudible 00:00:24]. Someday maybe it'll come out, which we'll notify you immediately, but so far I haven't heard that, including the drugs known as Zepbound and Wegovy, often called Ozempic. This is a triumph for American patients that will save lives and improve the health of millions and millions of Americans, amazing thing. They are amazing.
(00:49)
I want to thank Eli Lilly CEO David Ricks, a friend of mine. We've worked long and hard. He and I got this whole thing started in a way, and Novo Nordisk CEO Mike Doustdar for joining us today, great, talented people. They make a lot of money. I looked at their money, but they're entitled to their money because the companies are done very well. Along with Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., Secretary Howard Lutnick. Do you take any of this stuff, Howard?
Speaker 1 (01:24):
Not yet.
President Trump (01:25):
Okay, good. CMS Administrator Mehmet Oz. He doesn't take it. Food and Drug Administrator Commissioner Marty Makary, and director of Medicare, Chris Clomp, and we have Steve… Where's Steve? Is he here? Head of public relations for the White House. He's taking it.
(01:53)
United States is just 4% of the world's population and consumes only 13% of all prescription drugs, yet pharmaceutical companies make 75% of their profits from the American customer. I would say that's not so good. That's not exactly great. To address this chronic unfairness, I signed an executive order earlier this year instructing my administration to do everything in our power to implement Most Favored Nation drug pricing, something that has been helped greatly by tariffs because when nations refuse to do it, we should have put this in the case yesterday, I just say, "Well, if you're not going to do it, we're going to charge you a like amount of tariffs," and they immediately say, "We'll do it," which means that Americans should pay no more than the lowest price offered anywhere in the world.
(02:48)
So you've heard for years the disparity where you'll pay $150 for a pill in New York and you'll pay $10 for a pill in London. Now you're going to pay $20 both because the world is a little bit bigger than the US so it goes up that way, but you'll pay $20 and $20, a tremendous advantage to our country after years of being abused by the world system. Already Pfizer, AstraZeneca, and EMD Serono have agreed to drastically lower their prices for American patients. And today, Eli Lilly and Novo Nordisk are joining the phenomenal list of the most exciting announcements. Nobody's ever had announcements, and this has to do with other pharmaceutical products also, but we're covering this today because it's such a big seller. I guess it's the number one selling thing there is today.
(03:45)
These are two companies that behind the groundbreaking weight loss drugs that have helped millions of Americans struggling with obesity live better, longer lives, everything else, these are the two companies that really broke ground. Until now neither of these two popular drugs have been covered by Medicare for weight loss and they've only rarely been covered by Medicaid. They've often cost consumers more than a thousand dollars per month, and some are a lot more than that. Americans have been spending as much as 520% more for Zepbound and 1400% more for Wegovy than patients in Europe. Think of that, 1400% more than a patient in Europe for the exact same box, and that ends starting today. The other countries are not happy with us. I don't think they like me too much, Bobby, but that's okay.
(04:40)
Eli Lilly and Novo Nordisk are committing to offer Zepbound and Wegovy at Most Favored Nations rates for American patients. This will slash the cost of Wegovy from $1350 a month to ultimately $250 a month, 1350 to 250. Did I do a good job? They're going to write about it. They like to not write these things. Do you think anybody… You think Biden could have done this? I don't think so. And reduced the monthly cost of Zepbound from $1080 to $346.
(05:17)
In addition, they're both committing that future GLP-1 weight loss drugs taken orally, which are currently under development, will be sold at no more than $149 per month. It's a massive… think of that. You go from 1300 to $149 a month. We anticipate these new versions will be coming out in a very short period of time. All of these drugs will be available directly to the consumer at TrumpRx.gov. They wanted to use my name, it better be good, TrumpRx.gov. And I think it's turning out to be pretty amazing, right, Oz?
(06:01)
Just as significantly, Medicare and Medicaid will finally cover the cost of these weight-loss drugs for millions of patients suffering from obesity. Co-pays for Medicare patients will be as low as $50. This is tremendous savings. Now you're talking about from $1350 to $50. This is tremendous news for the American seniors. And you all remember when I had one-eighth of 1% for the year. I got it and I was so thrilled, but now we're cutting it 1000%, 1200%. Nobody's ever seen anything like this. Nobody else could have done it, but I say that modestly. In addition, you think it was easy dealing with these people? It wasn't. You think it was easy saying, "Your drug, Mr. Eli Lilly that we're selling for 1300 is going to be sold for 250,"? The amazing thing, the stocks all went up. These guys are, they're fantastic because it's going to equalize the world. The world's a bigger place and it's going to equalize. I was a little surprised to see that, but I'm happy about it.
(07:12)
In addition, Eli Lilly and Novo Nordisk have agreed to provide all of their other medications to Medicaid at Most Favored Nations prices, Most Favored Nations, meaning that you will pay the lowest price anywhere in the world. That's what you're going to pay. Whereas before, they paid low prices and we paid thousands of percentile ahead more, and to sell these drugs to all consumers at deeply discounted prices via TrumpRx.com. When is TrumpRx.com opening?
Speaker 1 (07:47):
The site is open. It will launch in terms of giving people prices before the end of the year.
President Trump (07:51):
Okay, got to make sure it's successful, it's got my name on it. I don't want to be like so many others. I don't want to be like the train they're building in California, which has about 15000% cost overrun, or the beautiful Obama building that he's building in Chicago for the museum, which is now shuttered up and dead. They got it up and they couldn't finish. It's about, would you say, five years behind schedule and about 2000% over budget. Then he tells us how to run Medicaid.
(08:28)
Many of the most widely used drugs will be available for 60% off or even more than that. In addition, all new medications introduced by Eli Lilly and Novo Nordisk to the American market will be sold at the heavily reduced Most Favored Nations price. Most Favored Nations price, that's the best because they have been thousands of percent lower than what we were selling in many cases. Furthermore, Eli Lilly is investing $
President Trump (09:00):
… $27 billion, that's all? And Novo Nordisk will invest $10 billion. That's all? That's peanuts. In the United States to reshore do a big domestic manufacturing job in the facilities, so Eli Lilly spent 27 billion, Novo is spending 10 billion in the United States. So they're building new plant and equipment. That's part of what will be 20 or $21 trillion this year. There's never been anything like it. I know nobody talks about it, but there's never been anything like… I would say you would say that there's never been anything like this ever in, whether it's China or Europe, or you could take all of Europe, there's never been anything like this. So we're already past 17 trillion. We're going to be, I think by the time the year closes out, we'll have investments of over $21 trillion based on the way we're going. And by the way, tariffs are very important.
(10:01)
Without tariffs, perhaps it could be a little bit different, to put it mildly, tariffs is so important. The decision in the Supreme Court would be devastating to our country if we got a negative, devastating if we got a negative decision. But this is a great day for American health and healthcare and for all of American patients. These are things that are miracles that have this happen. And we're bringing all our medicines again because of tariffs, we're bringing all our medicines. If you remember where during COVID, we made almost no medicine here. We had to go to China, we had to go to Ireland, we had to go to other places, UK, to get our… We didn't make it here. Now we're making it. We'll soon be making it all here again because of tariffs and my election, but because of tariffs, much more. For years, politicians have talked about making healthcare affordable. But my administration is actually doing it.
(11:00)
Americans deserve the best healthcare in the world, and we're now getting the best healthcare at the lowest price. So I'd like to ask somebody who's doing a fantastic job, Secretary Kennedy, to say for your words, followed by Dr. Ross, Dr. Klomp, and then Eli Lilly, CEO David Ricks and Novo Nordisk CEO Mike Doustdar. These are incredible stars in that business. Like Doustdar is a big star. And I can tell you that David Ricks is one of the hottest people in the world in business, but the business that he's in is pharmaceutical. And the job he's done with Eli Lilly is incredible. Both of these gentlemen there, they really are stars in the truest sense. And it's an honor to have you in the White House and go to it, Bobby.
Robert F. Kennedy (11:55):
Thank you, Mr. President. I want to start by thanking you, Mr. President for declaring war on chronic disease in this country. This is something no American president has ever done. If we want to solve the chronic disease crisis, we have to tackle it. Obesity. Obesity is the number one driver of chronic disease. 50% of our adult population are obese or overweight, and it drives about 50% of healthcare costs in this country. Diabetes, cardiac diseases, we are going to see a decline because of this historic agreement. We're going to see a decline in cost, but also more importantly in the afflictions themselves.
(12:50)
President Trump is the friend of the forgotten American. Obesity is a disease of poverty overwhelmingly. And these drugs have only been available for people who have wealth. At one point, the majority of prescriptions, the highest concentration of prescriptions in this country was the upper west side of Manhattan. And what about the people who live in rural areas, who live in food deserts? What about the people in urban areas who live in food deserts and are suffering from obesity and are locked into that system where they can only get ultra-processed foods, which are aggravating the problem? This will be a lifesaver to them. It's not a panacea, it's not a silver bullet. President Trump has also instructed us to address and end the root causes of chronic disease. And we're doing that. We're about to release dietary guidelines that are going to change the food culture in this country.
(13:55)
They're going to change the kind of food the military gets. They're going to change the kind of food that our children get. We're releasing those in December. The Presidential Council for Physical Fitness is going to get more Americans, particularly our children, into physical activity so that we can attack the root causes of this. But in the meantime, there's nothing more important than we can do than lower this price. As I said, it is the number one cost of all drugs. This is the biggest drug in our country. That's why this is the most important of all the MFN announcements we've made. This is going to have the biggest impact on the American people. All Americans, even those who are not on Medicaid and Medicare, are going to be able to get the same price for their GLP drugs. This happened because of the vision of David Ricks, of Mike Doustdar and the other people, and the people on our team who figured out a way to align the interests of the shareholders of their company with the health of the American public.
(15:06)
And it is a momentous accomplishment. It took months and months of negotiations, and I had a wonderful conversation with Mike Doustdar about his experience, and he thanked me for the caliber of people who are on our side of the negotiating team. Chris Klomp walked away from a billion-dollar business in order to join this administration in Hernandez, David Brooks, and of course Dr. Oz and Marty McCary who made this happen. They saw that this could be a win-win situation, that this was not a zero-sum game. The Biden administration tried to solve this problem unsuccessfully, I might add, by throwing $40 billion at it. And they were able to achieve an agreement that will actually create savings for the American public. So we're making all of this available at a savings. And that's because the price of diabetes prescriptions is also going to drop. And the savings that we get from that are now going to make it available to people who do not have diabetes.
(16:20)
People who have a BMI of 27 and above or pre-diabetic or have heart disease risk, they will be able to get it, but everybody will be able to get this drug and it's going to change. The American public, because of this agreement, we'll lose 125 million pounds by this time next year. It is going to have dramatic effects on human health in this country. And I want to thank President Trump for his leadership. He said that I'd gotten a lot done as HHS secretary, but almost none of that is due to my ability. It's because I'm surrounded by people who are smarter than me, who are more able than me. And those people came into the administration because they were inspired by President Trump. People like Chris Klomp are here because they see this.
President Trump (17:13):
Do you think they are smarter than you and more able? No.
Robert F. Kennedy (17:14):
Believe me, they're a lot smarter than I am.
President Trump (17:15):
Why don't you take that job? He doesn't really mean that, he's being modest, I promise you.
Robert F. Kennedy (17:29):
It is true, unfortunately.
President Trump (17:33):
It's a beautiful thing.
Robert F. Kennedy (17:33):
But I want to thank you, Mr. President, because you've been able, you've made me a success here by allowing me to attract these extraordinary people. And I want to, again, thank David Ricks who we've been talking. We've been in this Oval Office again and again. You keep saying he's the smartest guy in the industry, that he could talk a dog off a meat truck. But he came to the table and Mike knew, he starts holding me. He says-
President Trump (17:59):
He did convince people for
President Trump (18:00):
He convinced people for 20 years that it was okay for Europe to pay $10 and for America to pay $140. That's why they make $45, $50 million a year. Finally, I said I made it, right?
Speaker 2 (18:14):
You did.
President Trump (18:15):
He did. But anybody could do that, they're entitled. But now it's down to what it should be.
Robert F. Kennedy (18:24):
And Mike Doustdar told me what a pleasure was to negotiate with people who were smart, who had common sense, who were able to put themselves in his position and hammer out this deal that is good for everybody. And it's great for the American public. I want to close again by just saying that this is a tool and toolkit. It is not a silver bullet. It is an arrow in our quiver. It will allow a lot of people who are locked into high risk obesity to finally lose weight, to reset, and then start doing the kind of things that will address the root causes of obesity. So I want to thank these extraordinary CEOs for sticking with us on this, for allowing us to make this happen. Mike Doustdar said to me, he said, "We've known we've had to do this for many years. We just haven't been able to get over the edge. And that this, President Trump's order, his executive order, was a catalyst to do something that we always knew needed to be done." So again, thank you for your vision, for your commitment, and thank you to all the CEOs and all of my team are making this historic agreement happen.
President Trump (19:40):
Bobby, you haven't changed your view on Tylenol for women that are pregnant?
Robert F. Kennedy (19:45):
No. As I said-
President Trump (19:46):
Because there's some false reports out about Tylenol that Bobby changed his mind. I don't think he's changed anything.
Robert F. Kennedy (19:52):
I'm not going to change until the science changes and the science does not look like it's changing. It's getting stronger and stronger every day. What we recommend is that mothers, pregnant mothers, talk to their physicians, that the mothers of small kids talk to their physicians. And we've advised the physicians to reduce the thresholds and to reduce the amount of Tylenol that they give to children as much as possible and only use it when it's absolutely critical.
Speaker 2 (20:23):
Thank you. So we're going to go through some of the deal points, but it does make itself clear that the real stake here is the forgotten man. President Trump, I believe you won the election because you remember the forgotten man. You speak to them, they hear you, they listen to you, and he connects well because he actually does things that materially change their lives. Secretary Kennedy spoke passionately, as he always does, about the problems with obesity. And just to put some very fine point numbers on this, obesity itself is responsible for half of all chronic disease and definitely generates more than a quarter of all the money we spend out of CMS, the $1.75 trillion that we spend annually. We need to address this tempest of dramatically increasing prices for healthcare. And you're not going to do it just by throwing money at the problem. You have to actually literally deal with the causes of the increase in price. And pharmaceutical prices are a part of that. They've been a part of it for a long time, but this President insisted that we address it.
(21:25)
In fact, the first time I heard this directly from you, sir, was in January at Mar-a-Lago where he took Secretary Kennedy, myself, Mr. Ricks, who you hear from in a second to dinner and demanded explanations for most favored nation pricing and what's wrong with it. And there was not a good reason against it. Now, MAHA is critical. America will have to get fit in order to right size the healthcare system, and MAHA has the answers. It has obesity management through diet and exercise and sleep and dealing with issues related to that. And I want to say it as clear as I can, obesity is not an absence of GLP-1 drugs. We're all clear on that. But as Secretary Kennedy said, it is an arrow in our quiver that we must use and should use. The MAHA movement means making it easier for the right things to happen, easier for you to be healthy. If you're sitting at home and watching, that's what MAHA means to me. Reducing cost of the number one most expensive medicine category in our country for Americans does just that. It is as MAHA as it gets.
(22:23)
Today's the fourth MFN. President Trump highlighted the first three, leading US company, leading European company. We've dropped infertility drugs who will make lots of Trump babies, I'm hoping by the midterms, but it's really about fairness. Fundamentally, it's fairness in pricing to Americans who have been getting ripped off paying three times more than their European counterparts for the exact same product made in the same factory, in the same bottle, in the same packaging. We shouldn't be paying three times more and we are no longer doing that. Fairness to the forgotten man also means dealing with the reality that they can afford a life-saving, life-changing drug that 10% or more of affluent Americans take, but folks without means can't manage it. Secretary Kennedy mentioned New York City. Actually, the number one zip code is the upper East Side, which is where you have property.
(23:10)
And folks who know ritzy areas buy important real estate there because those real estate properties are worth a lot there. That should not be the number one zip code in America for purchasing GLP-1 drugs. It speaks to the fact that we have an inherently innately unfair system that penalizes folks who can use these medications the most, folks on the rust belt. Now what are you supposed to do if the right thing to do for your health is right there, but you can't afford to get it? Folks need to be able to utilize these lifesaving medications and being fair about its distribution is essential. And we are democratizing, democratizing access to these medications and dealing with a moral imperative to make sure that all Americans have access to avoiding all the obesity related complications by making sure they can afford, if they do things right, not just MAHA appropriate interventions, but also medications like this.
(23:58)
In fact, we think these deals, and this part's very important, we believe these deals within two years, within two years, by the time the ink dries on these contracts that were signed earlier today, within two years, based on our health improvements, we will be budget neutral. These drugs will not cost us money. The American taxpayers will be getting their money back. That's how important it is for us to reduce the cost of healthcare in this country, especially when it's due to preventable problems like obesity. In addition, we have an update, Secretary Kennedy. We thought it was 125 million pounds. Mr. President, our estimate based on the company numbers as well, is Americans will lose 135 billion pounds by the midterms. But I don't measure it in pounds. I measure it and save lives. People can sleep again because they can breathe is when they go to bed. Folks whose knees don't hurt, people who don't have heart attacks, renal failure, dementia, all the things we know are associated with obesity and much more.
(24:50)
This wouldn't have happened if we didn't have the right tools and had the ability with the team that has been spoken of earlier. So I want to call out Abe Sutton. He leads… He's in the back right there. He leads the CMS Innovation Center that made the deal possible, and they're announcing today a new model, a brand new model aimed at getting to the vulnerable populations amongst us, these medications. The forgotten man will be able to afford these drugs now. Governors will be thanking President Trump. They should be calling directly, sir, because they're going to be able to afford Medicaid next year in ways unimaginable and they will stop crowding out education and other civil services. We cannot be a wealthy nation without being a healthy nation. That's why today's MFN deal is a historic step forward for all America who's… And this is something that I don't think is partisan. There is no way you can argue against what just happened.
(25:36)
These numbers to my side here, Administrator McGarry, who's been instrumental in this process as well, $1,350 baseline. Chris Klomp will go through the numbers, but just focus on that $245, which is what he's going to point you to. And Chris Klomp has been an unbelievable leader, an innovator. You've heard his name before, he's spoken here before, but he is continuing to change the face of CMS. And I love the fact that with his leadership, we're bringing a lot of wonderful people in. Inma Hernandez has been mentioned, John Brooks as well and many others, including Beth Kelly, who runs the legal issues around these issues, because these guys are Barracudas, Mr. President. They will take you down, slice you in little bits. And Howard's been there. It's no longer happening. You've got sharp folks who are open for business. It's a generational opportunity to serve and people are showing up.
(26:23)
God bless you. Let me introduce now Chris Klomp, who just makes my life easier every day. I'm so proud of him.
Chris Klomp (26:31):
All great deals are rooted in principles. We've talked about this before, and today we're announcing another truly great deal. I love this deal, and it's rooted in the principle of potential. This is about unlocking the full potential of every American, the grandmother, the grandfather, the father, the son, by unlocking access to affordable life-saving medications that make a meaningful difference in their lives when they need them most. That's what today delivers. It's a deal built on principle
Chris Klomp (27:00):
For people, for the American people, and backed by policy that works. So the most important step to getting healthy is believing that your life has value, that God meant for each of us to have purpose and joy and to live fully. And to do that we must be good stewards of our body. And the president has been fighting to provide another tool to do just this and enable this and it's my pleasure to get to outline the contours of the deal today.
(27:29)
So first and foremost, customary with the three prior announcements, all of the customary, most favored nation terms that you've grown familiar with apply to these two deals. So this is actually deals four and five. Full Medicaid portfolios today at most favored nation prices. Shared savings from existing drug prices in Europe, deployed back to the United States. All primary care drugs at US net prices or most favored nation prices available on TrumpRx before the end of the year. And most importantly, all future drug launches across-
(28:15)
So first, under this agreement, starting doses of oral GLP-1s will cost just $149 a month for everyone. That's roughly one eighth the cost of the list price today. For Medicare, manufacturers are voluntarily reducing their prices for GLP-1s currently used for diabetes and other covered indications to $245 per month across all doses. The savings generated from this change in prices will be used to provide new coverage to obesity and those who struggle with obesity and also have high metabolic or cardiovascular risk, again, all for the same $245 a month. That means Americans struggling with diabetes and obesity with heart disease or other chronic conditions can access these life-changing drugs more affordably. Medicare patients, importantly, will only pay $50 a month for a copay. This is a massive reduction from what happens today.
(29:16)
For Medicaid, Novo and Lilly have agreed to extend the same new low government pricing to all 50 state Medicaid programs should they opt in, and we encourage them to opt in. And these will be available not just for diabetes and current covered indications, but also for obesity again, and in case you're getting tired of me saying it, at the same price of $245 a month, all covered doses.
(29:40)
On TrumpRx, the average price of injectables and orals will start at $350 on average. That's compared to roughly $500 today. And that will trend down to, you guessed it, the same $245 a month over the next 24 months. That is one-fifth of the list price. It is one-half of the best price in the United States today. We're hoping, Mr. President, that your friend who has to travel to England to afford these drugs will no longer need to do so and can come and do it in the United States. I'll also just mention that the $149 is $1 less than what you asked us to achieve. Just got to make sure that's clear.
(30:24)
So I want to highlight two other really important points that make me love this deal so very much. First, this isn't about spending more, it's about spending smarter. The savings from the diabetes drug price reductions are being used in a cost-neutral way to fund the new indications for taxpayers. That's amazing. And that happens inside of that same 24-month period. It's cost-neutral. We're spending the money more wisely. But second, this isn't just about lower drug prices for Americans, though it does do that, but together with physical activity, with healthy eating and diet, and where appropriate, the use of breakthrough GLP-1s, the real return on investment is healthier Americans, lower chronic disease, lower costs, we estimate by tens of billions of dollars a year, and most importantly, higher productivity.
(31:13)
Today is about freeing Americans from the weight, literally and figuratively that holds us back. It's about unlocking the potential of every citizen to live fully, to contribute fully, and to find joy in their health. We cannot reach our full potential as a nation if we do not reach our full potential as individuals. And we cannot reach our full potential as individuals if we are not healthy. Thanks to Novo and Lilly for showing up so constructively over the last several months to make this possible. And in particular, thanks to you, Mr. President, for again, demonstrating that you fight for every American, this time for potential. It's now my sincere pleasure to first introduce Dave Riggs from Lilly and then Mike Doustdar from Novo.
Speaker 3 (32:04):
Great, thank you Chris. It's truly an honor to be here today for this historic step forward to expand access to a class of medications that can fundamentally change the arc of chronic disease in our country. Of course, these are the incretin or GLP-1 agonist that we've been speaking about. For nearly 150 years, my company, Eli Lilly, has been investing in America. We've been advancing science and creating high-value jobs, but today we… Are you okay? Gordon, you're okay?
Speaker 4 (32:37):
Thank you, press.