Sen. Elizabeth Warren is demanding that Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. make public details of drug-pricing deals with pharmaceutical companies that list medicines on the President Donald Trump's direct-to-consumer website, TrumpRx.
The Massachusetts Democrat said in a Aug. 13 letter to Kennedy that he hasn't made details public even though he committed to doing so during an April hearing before the Senate Finance Committee.
"Americans deserve to know whether the deals the administration is cutting with Big Pharma will lower their prescription drug costs − or just further enrich big drug companies," Warren wrote in the letter obtained by USA TODAY.
Warren's letter was sent a day after the Labor Department released a July inflation report
showing prescription drug prices dropped 3.1% over the past 12 months. It was the steepest annual decline since March 1963, during the administration of President John F. Kennedy.
TrumpRx, launched earlier this year, is the centerpiece of Trump's efforts to lower prescription drug costs for Americans. The Trump administration has announced "most-favored-nation" deals with 17 large drug companies aimed at lowering prescription drug costs to levels seen in other developed nations. In May, Trump announced more than 600 generic medications were added to the direct-to-consumer website.
However, the administration hasn't released the terms of deals negotiated with drug companies.
TrumpRx doesn't sell prescription drugs directly but lists prices and directs cash-paying consumers to drug manufacturers' websites or coupons that can be used at pharmacies. The site also doesn't process insurance claims, and most people use their health insurance plan's drug benefits when filling prescriptions.
When Kennedy appeared before the Senate Finance Committee in April, Warren questioned why the Trump administration hadn't made public deals with pharmaceutical companies. Kennedy responded, "I've already said this – I'm happy to make the deals available except for proprietary information and trade secrets."
During the testy April exchange, Kennedy added, "We did this because you refused to do it," referring to negotiating drug discounts.
Warren questions TrumpRx savings, demands answers
In the letter sent Aug. 13, Warren also questioned a report citing White House data that said TrumpRx saved consumers more than $700 million in prescription drug spending. Among the questions Warren posed: How could the administration provide a reliable savings estimate when TrumpRx does not have patient, health, or prescriptioninformation?
The amount a consumer pays at the pharmacy counter typically depends on what their insurance requires they pay in copays or deductibles. Insurance plans also often negotiate prices with middlemen entities called pharmacy benefit managers.
In addition to demanding information about the most favored nation deals, Warren questioned whether those drug-pricing deals will end at the conclusion of Trump's second term. Dr. Mehmet Oz, administrator of the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, said the negotiated deals expire at the end of Trump's term, Warren's letter said.
Warren also asked about the Trump administration pressuring European nations to raise drug prices. She also wanted to know how many consumers visited TrumpRx since Feb. 5 and the average savings per visitor.
USA TODAY has reached out to HHS and White House officials for comment.
What factors influence drug prices?
While this week's inflation report shows the largest year-over-year decline in prescription drug prices in six decades, experts said price trends can be influenced by a small number of drugs.
About 90% of prescriptions filled in the U.S. are with low-cost generic drugs, so generic competition generally works well to lower prices, according to Dr. Benjamin Rome, a Harvard Medical School professor and drug pricing expert.
But prices are higher and continue to rise among brand-name drugs that don't yet have competition due to patent protection, Rome said.
Medicare drug price negotiations, kickstarted by the Biden administration, began this year on 10 brand drugs prescribed to treat cancer, heart disease, autoimmune conditions and diabetes. The drugs are Eliquis, Jardiance, Xarelto, Januvia, Farxiga, Entresto, Enbrel, Imbruvica, Stelara and NovoLog.
The 2022 climate and health legislation, called the Inflation Reduction Act, empowered Medicare to negotiate prices with pharmaceutical companies on a limited number of medications.
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Warren to RFK Jr: Show the public the negotiated deals for TrumpRx
