The Donald Trump administration is set to soon announce a plan to supply high-priced obesity drugs made by global pharmaceutical companies at one-tenth of the price to tackle obesity, a signature U.S. social problem.
According to major media on the 5th (local time), the Trump administration plans to distribute GLP-1 (glucagon-like peptide-1) class obesity treatments, which are widely known in Korea, through a new government website called TrumpRx. Fox Business reported that by using this site, consumers who are not enrolled in separate health insurance can buy drugs directly from manufacturers at discounted prices. It means the government will conduct direct transactions for obesity drugs without U.S. health insurers that require costly expense. Trump plans to announce the details himself on the 6th.
The Wall Street Journal (WSJ), citing White House officials, reported that the low-dose version of Novo Nordisk's Wegovy could be sold at $149 per month (about 200,000 won), and Eli Lilly's zepbound at the starting dose could be sold at $299 per month (about 430,000 won). If Lilly's oral (pill) treatment orforglipron, now under development, wins approval from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA), it will also be supplied at $149 per month.
GLP-1 class obesity treatments such as Wegovy and zepbound were originally developed as diabetes drugs. Later, they were shown to send satiety signals to the brain, suppress appetite, and reduce body weight by about 15% to 20%, demonstrating a groundbreaking effect. In Korea, these treatments sell for around 400,000 won for a one-month supply. In the U.S., where private health insurance is prevalent, they are sold at prices at least three times higher than in Korea.
The United States follows a free-market principle in which drugmakers set the highest price that the "market can bear" on their own. On top of that, middlemen called pharmacy benefit managers (PBMs) intervene. PBMs negotiate drug price discounts (rebates) with pharmaceutical companies on behalf of insurers, and the opacity of this process is cited as a major reason for inflating the final price. In particular, drugmakers raise prices every year for drugs like obesity treatments that incur high research and development expenses.
Because of this, obtaining a prescription for an obesity treatment in the U.S. required $1,000 to $1,350 per month (about 1.45 million to 1.96 million won), depending on the state. Drugmakers ran their own discount programs at $349 to $499 per month, but high prices led to persistent criticism that these were "drugs for the rich." Under the Trump administration program, TrumpRx prices are set at between one-third and one-tenth of existing retail prices, depending on the product.
Since the presidential race, Trump has pledged to "Make America Healthy Again." According to the latest statistics from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the adult obesity rate in the United States stands at 40.3%. Four in 10 people are obese, among the highest rates in the world. According to the American College of Surgeons, the prevalence of severe obesity with a body mass index (BMI) over 40 is also as high as 9.4%. Obesity is a leading cause of serious chronic diseases such as heart disease, stroke, and type 2 diabetes. In the United States, annual medical expenditure due to obesity is estimated at $173 billion (about 230 trillion won). This means obesity is no longer just a personal health issue but a social catastrophe that threatens national finances.
Major media reported that the negotiations were led by Mehmet Oz, head of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS). A cardiologist, Oz is known for performing former President Bill Clinton's heart surgery in 2005. He began by hosting a health segment on The Oprah Winfrey Show in 2004 and went on to host the popular health program "The Dr. Oz Show" for 13 years, from 2009 until it ended in 2022. In the U.S., he is the origin of the "show doctor" and one of the most famous TV stars.
Trump also appeared on the Oz show in 2016, before his first term, to check his health. When Oz said at the time that he "should lose a bit of weight," Trump agreed, saying, "I'd like to lose 7 to 8 kilograms too." Regarding the current negotiations, Oz persuaded Health and Human Services Secretary Robert Kennedy Jr., saying, "Obesity drugs are expensive in the short term, but they can prevent heart disease and diabetes caused by obesity," and "In the long term, they can massively reduce federal healthcare costs." According to the USC Schaeffer Center, if Medicare covers the expense of obesity treatments, reduced hospitalizations and other factors could lead to federal healthcare cost savings of $175 billion to $245 billion (about 230 trillion to 325 trillion won) over the next 10 years.
Pharmaceutical companies are said to have accepted the price cuts the administration wanted in exchange for demanding entry into the public health insurance market as a quid pro quo. The United States operates Medicare for people 65 and older and Medicaid for low-income individuals. Medicare currently does not prescribe GLP-1 treatments solely for obesity treatment purposes.
The Washington Post (WP) reported that, under the deal, some Medicare beneficiaries will be prescribed GLP-1 obesity treatments on a limited basis. Medicare coverage would apply only when the purpose is to treat related complications, such as for those at risk of heart disease or with sleep apnea, rather than simple weight loss. For drugmakers, supplying treatments to the government at low prices effectively opens a new pathway into Medicare, a vast potential market in an aging era.