Overview
- The president, speaking at a Monday Oval Office event on maternal health, repeated a year-old story about a wealthy friend to claim GLP-1 weight-loss drugs cost about $87 in London versus roughly $1,300 to $1,370 in New York.
- He said the boxes were identical and made in the same plant, framing the alleged gap as his reason to act on prices through his TrumpRx push.
- He derided the unnamed friend as a “very highly neurotic” “fat slob” and said he “destroyed his reputation in terms of his physicality,” remarks that drew laughter from Dr. Mehmet Oz, according to Mediaite.
- Alternet reports the administration previously touted deals with Eli Lilly and Novo Nordisk to lower GLP-1 costs, yet AARP says the Medicare drug negotiation program cited in this debate will not take effect until 2027.
- Coverage notes that promised relief has not arrived for most Americans, with CBS reporting last week that many drug prices have risen, highlighting the gap between the rhetoric and current outcomes.