US President Trump and US Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Kennedy attend a press conference, in Washington
Credit: Reuters Photo
US President Donald Trump, in a headline-grabbing moment, leveraged a seemingly fraught Ozempic anecdote in support of his administration's renewed push to narrow price discrepancies between US and UK drugs. The words of the president at the Roosevelt Room led to an avalanche of reactions on the internet.
The Republican chief recounted an experience of his, giving it a personal touch, narrating that a "seriously overweight" friend in the UK had been using the drug, which Trump said he called by the colorful name of an "unfat shot drug."
"A friend of mine, who is a businessman…top guy. Most of you would have heard of him. Highly neurotic, brilliant businessman. Seriously overweight. And he takes the fat shot drug," Trump added, before claiming the same friend once told him that despite taking the medicine, it hadn’t done much to him. However, the real point Trump was trying to emphasize is that there are big discrepancies in medication pricing in different countries. He explained that in the UK, his rich friend had paid only a fraction of what he pays in the United States for that very same medication.
“He said, I just paid $88 and in New York I paid $1,300... So I looked into it, and it is the same box made in the same plant by the same company. It is the identical pill that I buy in New York, and here I am paying $88 in London and in New York paying $1,300," Trump told reporters.
Pharmaceuticals had been the subject of his ire with previous explanations by pharmaceutical companies being that the prices had to be so high in the States for so long because of the cost of research and development.
With the help of the proposed plan to lower prescription drug costs by 80%, Trump exclaimed, "Other countries are supposed to pay for research and development too. It’s for their benefit ... so for the first time in many years, we will bring down the price of prescription drugs and bring fairness to America."
Trump promotes a most-favored-nation drug pricing
In a foreign-policy initiative, the president promulgated a rather bold directive that has come to be termed as a "most-favoured nation" price-setting. According to Independent, the policy intends that whichever prices drug companies set for their drug products in the United States, those companies must make sure it is the lowest prices available in any developed country.
Further, Trump announced that they will begin investigating some of the practices abroad that, in the president's words, 'coerce drug manufacturers into accepting unfairly low prices abroad', thereby shifting the financial burdens on to American consumers through the Commerce Department and the US Trade Representative.
"The biggest thing we’re going to do is we’re going to tell those countries, like those represented by the European Union, that, you know, that game is up. Sorry. And if they want to get cute, then they don’t have to sell cars to the United States anymore," Trump warned.
While it doesn't exactly assign a price to drugs, the executive order instructs the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) to develop rules to effectuate the price-matching approach. It also directs the agency to put a source of pressure on drugmakers who refuse to comply, particularly in the form of crackdowns on anti-competitive practices.
Is Trump’s 'friend' actually Elon Musk or Trump himself?
The internet was also quick to speculate about the identity of Trump’s mysterious “friend” who allegedly uses the drug with many believing that it may be Elon Musk. In an earlier X post, dating back to December 2024, Musk dubbed himself “Ozempic Santa”, later adding, “Technically, Mounjaro, but that doesn’t have the same ring to it.”
Others also believe that there is no such friend and Trump is simply talking about himself in his story.
Many on social media have also found it amusing that Trump calls Ozempic the “fat shot drug”. Even long-time Trump ally Laura Loomer joined the cackling crowd on social media, laughing at how the MAGA boss had dubbed Ozempic “the fat shot drug.”