The launch of TrumpRx, an online platform enabling consumers to purchase discounted prescription drugs directly from manufacturers, has been delayed. Although it was expected to go live in late January, HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. announced at a cabinet meeting last week that it instead “is going to be happening sometime, probably in the next 10 days.”
Although the administration didn’t offer a reason for the delay, it comes as officials offer new guidance clarifying how pharmaceutical companies can sell lower-cost prescription drugs directly to patients without violating the anti-kickback statute. Sens. Dick Durbin, D-Ill., Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., and Peter Welch, D-Vt., recently sent a letter to the HHS Office of Inspector General asking how it will oversee the platform and apply the anti-kickback statute.
“Legitimate concerns about inappropriate prescribing, conflicts of interest and inadequate care have been raised about the exact types of direct-to-consumer platforms to which TrumpRx would route patients,” the letter said.
The senators said they have found that these types of websites sometimes allow consumers to preselect prescription drugs and then connect with telehealth providers — which may be paid hundreds of thousands of dollars by the companies that make the drugs — who prescribe the medications, sometimes with brief appointments and limited access to medical records.
“In any other administration, it would 100% be the [anti-kickback statute] stuff,” Brian Reid, a health consultant and principal Reid Strategic, told Politico. “It’s clear there’s a lawyer somewhere at HHS who has concerns about anti-kickback.”
Safeguards cited in guidance issued by the Office of Inspector General include not billing the drug purchases to Medicare, Medicaid or other federal coverage programs; ensuring that the patient has a valid prescription from an independent prescriber; and not offering controlled substances. Participating pharmaceutical companies also should not use the platform to promote other reimbursable products or condition their direct-to-consumer pricing on any future purchases.
The website is part of a broader administration initiative to implement a most favored nation pricing model in which Americans pay no more for drugs than the lowest prices charged in other wealthy countries. “This is a critical step forward in our work to improve health care for hardworking, low-income Americans,” President Donald Trump said in announcing TrumpRx last fall.
Although the Pharmaceutical Care Management Association supported the plan, the National Association of Chain Drug Stores raised concerns. “The president’s announcement reflects the reality that PBM tactics are exploding Americans’ prescription drug costs, and this action is an attempt to strike a blow against the PBMs’ manipulation and self-enrichment in the prescription drug supply chain,” said Steven Anderson, the group’s president and CEO.