Watchdog: Trump Scrapped Serious Efforts to Lower Rx Drug Prices, Now Pushing “Direct-to-Consumer” Scheme That Won’t Save Patients Much…But Will Enrich His Son

Washington D.C. – In the latest in a long series of nakedly corrupt Trump administration moves that financially benefit the Trump family, the Wall Street Journal reports that the U.S.’ “top drugmakers are set to meet in early December … with Donald Trump Jr. and senior Trump administration officials that regulate the pharmaceutical industry” at an event hosted by [“little known”] BlinkRx, “an online prescription drug delivery company that this year installed Trump Jr. as a board member.”

As the WSJ notes, days before President Trump announced “TrumpRx, a new government website set to launch in early 2026” that “would funnel patients to direct-sale sites”, “a BlinkRx representative told one drug company that BlinkRx could be involved with running the site on behalf of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services.”

Bloomberg previously reported that shortly after the November 2024 election, right-wing investment firm 1789 Capital hired Trump Jr. and then led a $140 million cash infusion into Blink Rx, where Trump Jr. also joined the board. Then in July 2025, Trump called on drugmakers to offer direct-to-consumer options to customers for their products, exactly like the services BlinkRx offers – while experts have concluded such transactions are “unlikely to significantly lower drug costs.”

Another Trump Family Self-Enrichment Scheme While Trump’s Actions Keep Drug Prices High In Service to His Big Pharma Donors: On the very first day of his second term, Trump signed an Executive Order undoing Biden-era initiatives “ aimed at reducing prescription drug costs for Medicare and Medicaid recipients.” In April, Trump signed another Executive Order, effectively written by and for big drug companies, to delay Medicare drug price negotiations, giving drug companies four extra years to price gouge seniors on life-saving medicines. In July, Trump proudly signed the “Big Ugly” bill that dramatically weakened the Biden administration’s historic Medicare negotiation program, a move that amounts to a $5 billion giveaway to the big drug industry and jeopardizes $1.5 billion in savings for seniors on Medicare. Trump’s efforts to undo progress on lowering prescription drugs prices are no surprise as his last inauguration was funded in part by $6 million in donations from PhRMA, Pfizer, Gilead, Amgen, Johnson & Johnson, Merck, and Eli Lilly.

“President Trump is desperate to convince Americans that he’s doing anything constructive to lower prescription drug prices, but his actions have done the polar opposite while enriching his son and greedy big drug company donors,” said Tony Carrk, Accountable.US Executive Director. “After derailing serious initiatives in place to finally let Medicare negotiate cheaper drug prices on some of the most expensive life-saving medicines, the President wants praise for pushing a mail-order scheme that experts say won’t significantly lower costs for patients — but will put more money in his son’s pocket. This is presidential self-dealing at its most craven.”

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