America’s Pharmacist: WSJ Profile

When politicians interfere in private markets and industry, crazy things happen. So it goes with President Trump’s rolling attempt to play Pharmacist in Chief on drug production, government approvals, and consumer access and prices.

The comedy portion of this show debuted this week with Mr. Trump’s announcement of a new government website dubbed (of course) TrumpRx. The plan is to sell medicines directly to consumers at discount prices. Details are vague, though the business theory is supposedly to bypass insurance “middlemen.”

Someone should have told the President that private businesses already do this. One example is Mark Cuban’s Cost Plus Drug Co., which markets itself as selling “safe medicines at the lowest possible price.” We know Mr. Trump doesn’t like Mr. Cuban, but there are other competitors, and why does the federal government need to become a drug marketer? Doesn’t it already do enough not very well?

The White House is advertising TrumpRx discounts on the likes of Xeljanz for autoimmune conditions (40% discount), Zavzpret for migraines (50%), Eucrisa for dermatitis (80%), and Duavee for osteoporosis (85%). What the White House isn’t saying is that most drugs already cost much less than their list prices.