US President Donald Trump announced earlier this week that his administration would launch a new website, called TrumpRx, which will allow American consumers to buy prescription drugs from pharmaceutical companies at discounted prices.Pfizer, the first United States pharmaceutical group to sign up to the website, said it would offer discounts of up to 85 percent on the cost of its medicines for those not using health insurance policies to pay and for those on the government’s low-cost insurance programme, Medicaid. Pfizer will also sell medicines to the Medicaid programme itself at lower prices.Recommended Stories list of 3 itemslist 1 of 3How RFK Jr’s vaccine funding cuts fit with Trump’s visionlist 2 of 3Who can get updated COVID-19 vaccines in the US now?list 3 of 3Pfizer strikes deal with Trump administration to cut US drug pricesend of listThe announcement prompted shares in the pharmaceuticals sector to lift sharply this week, signalling a favourable response from markets and the pharmaceuticals industry.Here’s what we know about the new service, why it is being launched and how it will work.What is TrumpRx and when is it being launched?The new website will be launched in early 2026. It is a platform from which consumers will be able to buy prescription medicines directly from pharmaceutical companies without going through insurance.On the site, consumers will be able to search for the prescription drug required and then be directed to the drug’s manufacturing company.They will have access to discounted prices much closer to those typically paid by national health services in foreign countries at what are known as “most favoured nation” prices.Beneficiaries of Medicaid – the federal government insurance programme for adults and children from lower-income backgrounds – will also be able to use the site.“By taking this bold step, we’re ending the era of global price gouging at the expense of American families,” Trump told a news conference on Tuesday.Director of Medicare and Deputy Administrator of CMS Chris Klomp speaks after US President Donald Trump announced a deal with Pfizer to sell drugs at lower prices, in the Oval office of the White House in Washington, DC, on September 30, 2025 [Ken Cedeno/Reuters]What are ‘most favoured nation’ prices?“Most favoured nation” (MFN) prices are those that national health services in other countries, including Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the United Kingdom, Switzerland and Denmark, pay US pharmaceutical companies for prescription drugs.As these countries buy medicines in bulk, they have much greater purchasing power to demand lower prices than ordinary consumers. This means pharmaceutical companies tend to sell their drugs at a much lower price to other countries than they do domestically.The US cannot leverage this sort of purchasing power because it does not have a national health service, so the government cannot influence the price of drugs in the same way.The Trump administration argues that this means US pharmaceutical companies are effectively subsidising foreign health services while artificially inflating prices for American consumers. In May this year, therefore, he signed an executive order aimed at reducing prescription drug prices in the US, stating: “The United States will no longer subsidise the health care of foreign countries.”When a country grants MFN status, it commits to providing the recipient country with the same trade advantages it gives to any other country with MFN status, but not necessarily the same low prices – prices still vary from country to country. However, it is understood that companies will be expected to offer drugs at their lowest selling price in any other country.What else has Trump done about the cost of medicines in the US?The launch of the new website is just one part of Trump’s strategy to reduce prescription medicine prices in the US.In July this year, he sent a letter to the CEOs of 17 pharmaceutical companies ordering them to reduce their prices.In the letter, he laid out demands and promises: