Two Months Later, Success of TrumpRx Is Mixed: Are Lower Prices Really Available?

When TrumpRx launched on February 5, 2026,¹ the Trump administration lauded the move as giving Americans new options to purchase their prescription drugs. The website, they said, offered a means for individuals in the US to get drugs at Most Favored Nation prices by purchasing the prescription drugs with cash. However, the reality has been a little more mixed, as experts have noted that the website does not always offer the best prices for those looking to pay in cash.² With the continued rollout of new drugs added to the website, the origins of the website as well as its efficacy are a paramount concern for patients looking to save money on their prescription drugs.

TrumpRx Acts as Central Hub for Prescription Drug Coupons

TrumpRx is a website that is hosted by the government where Americans can go to find brand-name prescription drugs at a discounted price. The website offers coupons for several different therapies, including branded medications for obesity, diabetes, and fertility. The coupons can be taken to specific pharmacies to get the discounted prices on existing prescriptions.

“It basically functions, in a way, as a little bit of a search engine,” Stacie Dusetzina, PhD, a professor in the Department of Health Policy at Vanderbilt University School of Medicine, told The American Journal of Managed Care^® (AJMC^®). “You can go to the website, and you can say what drug you’re looking for, and if it’s listed on the website, it will send you down a path of maybe going to a manufacturer’s website.”

However, Dusetzina noted that there are few drugs listed on TrumpRx compared with the number of drugs available in the US, which was evident when she used the search bar on the website itself.

“I don’t even know how many different medicines I tried to type before something came up as actually matching,” she said. “I think for a lot of people who want to go to the website and see if their drug is covered, they might have that same experience where they try all the drugs that are in their medicine cabinet and nothing shows up.”

This makes the usefulness of TrumpRx limited for some patients, as the website has 43 prescription drugs available, which may be found elsewhere.

“There are some drugs like GLP-1 [glucagon-like peptide-1] medications for weight loss or hormonal treatments used in IVF [in vitro fertilization] that are often not covered by insurance, and in those cases having options to purchase these drugs at discounted cash prices can be useful,” Benjamin Rome, MD, MPH, an associate physician in the Division of General Internal Medicine and Primary Care at Brigham and Women’s Hospital, told AJMC. “For most Americans, this won’t be a great option because most people use insurance to pay for their prescription drugs and their out-of-pocket costs may be only a fraction of the full cost.”

Deals With Pharmaceutical Companies May Have Played a Role in TrumpRx

The Trump administration announced new pricing agreements with pharmaceutical companies throughout 2025, including with companies Eli Lilly, Pfizer, AstraZeneca, and Novo Nordisk,³ with the aim of cutting down prices of drugs throughout the country. It is possible that these deals were used as the backbone for TrumpRx, where patients can seek out coupons for brand-name drugs offered by these pharmaceutical companies. However, the contents of these deals are not clear, making it hard to determine whether the deals are having an effect on what TrumpRx is offering.

“We don’t know all the details of these agreements, and perhaps more importantly, we don’t know if these agreements can be enforced. Thus, it’s hard to know if the drugs listed on TrumpRx are directly linked to these agreements or not,” said Rome.

Both sides have promised that the agreements include lowering prices for drugs overall, but how these reductions will be implemented has not been revealed. Not only are the contents a mystery to the public, but their permanence is also in question, as most of these deals came about through voluntary agreements.

“The voluntary nature of them means that, at any point, the drug companies could potentially walk away from them,” said Dusetzina. “While the White House had put out some information and the companies have put out some information for shareholders and through press releases, what the details are really does matter for who will save money and how much money in a way that I don’t think that people can fully evaluate.”

The Cheapest Option Is Not Always Through TrumpRx

TrumpRx shares some similarities with other websites that aim to provide coupons for prescription drugs, including GoodRx and Mark Cuban’s Cost Plus Drugs. The latter 2 websites provide coupons for both branded and generic drugs, whereas TrumpRx provides brand-name drugs exclusively. Experts have found that 18 of the brand-name drugs that are available through TrumpRx are cheaper to buy through GoodRx or Cost Plus Drugs coupons,³ making it confusing for patients who are looking for the lowest prices when seeking to pay cash for their prescription drugs.

“It’s not 100% of [GoodRx or Cost Plus Drugs] drugs that are generic, but that ends up being where you can really find this great use of those websites for price shopping,” explained Dusetzina. “TrumpRx is on the other side of that, where you might actually go and search for a drug and think you’re getting a good deal…but it doesn’t tell you if there’s a generic option for that product.”

This, she said, could make for a frustrating experience for patients should they go through TrumpRx thinking that they’re getting the best deal but ultimately pay more than they would find on other websites, especially for patients who don’t have the money for insurance or cannot afford to spend the extra money.

Dusetzina also noted that, because most of the drugs on TrumpRx are branded, they are often too expensive to pay for in cash for any long period of time, including cancer drugs that were recently added to the website. For chronic conditions, paying in cash will likely not come to lower prices than having insurance would, as deductibles would quickly be hit when looking to treat conditions like cancer. Price shopping, said Dusetzina, is worth doing for generic drugs, but for brand names, insurance is often the preferred method of getting medications.

The Future of TrumpRx

When the Trump administration comes to an end in 2029, the future of TrumpRx will be up in the air, as the venture was primarily spearheaded by the Trump administration and Republicans. Both Rome and Dusetzina were unsure of what a change in administration might mean for TrumpRx.

Rome compared the legislation in the Inflation Reduction Act having staying power over 2 administrations vs the potential result of TrumpRx when the Trump administration is no longer in power, saying, “Ultimately the biggest limitation of many of the steps the Trump administration is taking to lower prescription drug prices is the reliance on executive actions and handshake deals that may not stand the test of time.”

Dusetzina was also unsure about the fate of the website, noting that it likely would not hurt to keep it open in theory, but it could prove difficult to keep up-to-date, as TrumpRx reroutes to other websites whose links will need to be accurate.

“I think when you have something like that, it seems like the amount of effort to keep it updated is probably going to make it not something that people want to maintain long-term, just thinking about constantly refreshing links to different websites and making sure your pricing information is correct,” she said.

While the website is still updated and functional, Americans should make sure to cross-reference all prices with other similar websites to make sure that they are getting the best price for their prescription drugs. Using GoodRx and Cost Plus Drugs to compare drug prices with TrumpRx will help Americans who are looking to pay outside of insurance get the best prices for the best care.

References

1. Shaw M. TrumpRx launch brings savings—and uncertainty. AJMC^®. February 5, 2026. Accessed March 27, 2026. https://www.ajmc.com/view/trumprx-launch-brings-savings-and-uncertainty
2. Bonavitacola J. FAQs surrounding TrumpRx as rollout of the service continues. AJMC. March 13, 2026. Accessed March 27, 2026. https://www.ajmc.com/view/faqs-surrounding-trumprx-as-rollout-of-the-service-continues
3. McNulty R. Trump announces deals with Lilly, Novo to cut weight loss drug prices. AJMC. November 6, 2025. Accessed March 27, 2026. https://www.ajmc.com/view/trump-announces-deals-with-eli-lilly-novo-nordisk-for-lower-weight-loss-drug-prices