President Trump said Monday that a “neurotic” and rich friend got their “fat shot” at a discount while traveling abroad — and that the episode prompted a drug company executive to admit to the president they were overcharging Americans.
Trump shared the anecdote as he signed an order Monday intended to drastically reduce the price Americans pay for pharmaceutical products — without naming the friend he was talking about.
“A friend of mine who’s a businessman — very, very, very top guy, most of you would have heard of him — a highly neurotic, brilliant businessman, seriously overweight, and he takes the fat shot,” Trump told reporters at the White House.
“And he called me up … he’s a rough guy, smart guy, very successful, very rich … ‘Mr. President, could I ask you a question? I’m in London, and I just paid for this damn fat drug I take.’
“I said, ‘It’s not working,’” Trump joked.
‘He said, ‘I just paid $88 and in New York I pay $1,300. What the hell is going on?’ He said, ‘So I checked, and it’s the same box made in the same plant by the same company. It’s the identical pill that I buy in New York. And here I’m paying $88 in London, and New York, I’m paying $1,300.’
“Now, this is a great businessman, so — but he’s not familiar with this crazy situation that we have. But he was stunned,” Trump added.
“I brought it up with the drug companies, represented by somebody who’s very, very smart, good person too. And we argued about it for about a half-hour. And then finally, he just said, because they can’t justify it, he just said, ‘Look, you got me. You got me. I can no longer justify [the price difference].’”
Trump’s story generated speculation about who might have shared their story.
Elon Musk, the world’s richest man and lodestar of Trump’s Department of Government Efficiency, has publicly stated that he uses a weight-loss drug called Mounjaro, which is made by Eli Lilly, and has jokingly referred to himself as “Ozempic Santa,” using the name of a better-known option made by Novo Nordisk, which also produces Wegovy.
However, Trump’s suggestion that his friend worked in New York and London indicates Musk was not whom the president was referencing.
“They’ve been justifying this crap for years,” Trump said of pharmaceutical companies.
“They said, ‘Oh, it’s research and development.’ I said, ‘Well, research and development, other countries should pay research and development too.’ It’s to their benefit. It was just one of those things.”
Trump’s order requires that federal programs like Medicare and Medicaid pay the same rates as other developed countries, and administration officials are threatening antitrust actions against drug companies if they don’t lower rates for the private marketplace.
“The Democrats have protected Pharma. These are the Democrats,” Trump claimed Monday, despite bipartisan relations with the drug industry lobby.
“Our country has the highest drug prices anywhere in the world by sometimes a factor of five, six, seven, eight times. It’s not like they’re slightly higher,” he said.
“Even though the United States is home to only 4% of the world’s population, pharmaceutical companies make more than two-thirds of their profits in America.”
Although the impact of the initiative on the private market is unclear, the president said the reform would “bring fairness to America” and that costs should plummet “between 59% and 80% and I guess even 90%.”
