US President Donald Trump has launched a fresh attack on Big Pharma, inspired, he claims, by a "rich" friend who found a popular weight loss drug significantly cheaper abroad. While Trump didn't name the friend, social media was quick to speculate-many pointing to Tesla CEO Elon Musk.
At a press event on Monday to announce a sweeping executive order aimed at slashing prescription drug prices in the US, Trump recounted how a "very rich, very neurotic, brilliant businessman" had told him about buying his "fat shot" medication for just $88 in London-compared to the $1,300 he pays in New York.
"I said, 'It's not working,'" Trump quipped, poking fun at his friend's ongoing struggle with weight. The man, according to Trump, was outraged that the same drug, made by the same manufacturer, cost nearly 15 times more in the US than in the UK.
Trump said the incident prompted a tense conversation with a pharmaceutical executive who, after lengthy debate, eventually conceded: "You got me. I can no longer justify [the price difference]."
The president didn't name the drug, but weight-loss injections such as Ozempic, Wegovy, and Mounjaro have recently surged in popularity-especially among the wealthy. Elon Musk, the world's richest man, has publicly admitted to using such medications, including Mounjaro, and once referred to himself jokingly as "Ozempic Santa."
However, Trump's reference to the friend being based in both New York and London casts doubt on whether Musk was the individual in question.
The executive order Trump signed seeks to mandate that US federal programmes such as Medicare and Medicaid pay no more for drugs than other developed countries. He also hinted at taking antitrust action against pharmaceutical companies that resist aligning private market prices with international rates.
"Our country has the highest drug prices anywhere in the world by sometimes a factor of five, six, seven, eight times," Trump 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."
Criticising both Democrats and the pharma lobby, Trump added, "They've been justifying this for years with the excuse of research and development. But other countries should share that burden too-it's to their benefit."
While the broader impact on the private healthcare market remains to be seen, Trump claimed the reforms could slash drug costs by up to 90%, calling the move a step toward "fairness" for American consumers.
