Trump Administration Looking to Bypass PBMs Through Online DTC Pharmacy

In Donald Trump’s second term as President, he has devoted his efforts to lowering drug prices and increasing access to medications for Americans. Amid a historically complex drug supply chain consisting of prescription drug middlemen, experts believe this administration’s push to distributing drugs direct to consumers (DTC) could be a revolutionary move in decreasing drug costs.

“We, as sick people, are going to the pharmacy, getting a drug, and overpaying for drugs. Patients are paying more than they should be paying,” John C. Goodman, PhD, senior fellow at the Independent Institute and president of the Goodman Institute for Public Policy Research, told Drug Topics. “What happens to that profit? Some suggest that the PBMs are just pocketing the money. But in fact, it's a pretty competitive industry, and what they do is they compete down the price of insurance for employers, so people who are sick at the pharmacy are overpaying.”

Introduced in 2025 and set to launch sometime in 2026, TrumpRx is a DTC platform partnering with manufacturers like Pfizer to bring prescription drugs straight to patients. While experts are significantly anticipating its eventual launch, others are racing to understand and educate the larger drug supply chain on what this could mean for various industry stakeholders.

When asked about TrumpRx’s potential impact on the greater drug supply chain, Goodman focused immediately on pharmacy benefit managers (PBMs), or the prescription middlemen often given responsibility for rising drug costs.

With the introduction of TrumpRx, this administration is seemingly looking to bypass PBMs altogether and come up with more affordable drug prices between the government and the manufacturers. While this approach is similar to implications under the Inflation Reduction Act of 2022, signed into law by President Joseph Biden, the Trump Administration may eliminate the need for PBMs entirely. This could also be detrimental for the pharmacy industry as well and its ability to dispense medications.

Learn from Goodman, an industry-leading health economist, about the current developments surrounding TrumpRx and his thoughts on how it will impact drug makers, PBMs, pharmacists, physicians, patients, and more.

READ MORE: Q&A: TrumpRx Could Change the Way Pharmacies, PBMs Do Business

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