Executive Summary: President Donald Trump announced groundbreaking agreements on November 6, 2025, with pharmaceutical giants Eli Lilly and Novo Nordisk to dramatically reduce prices for popular GLP-1 weight loss drugs including Zepbound, Wegovy, and Ozempic. Under the deal, Medicare and Medicaid will cover these drugs for the first time for obesity treatment, with prices dropping from as high as $1,350 per month to as low as $250—and eventually $149 for new oral formulations. The agreement expands the administration’s Most Favored Nations drug pricing policy, ensuring Americans pay no more than the lowest international price, and includes commitments for $37 billion in domestic manufacturing investments. Trump framed the achievement as central to his administration’s fight against chronic disease and credited the use of tariffs as leverage in negotiations, while the announcement came amid uncertainty over a pending Supreme Court case that could limit his tariff authority.
The meeting covered drug pricing details, Most Favored Nations policy, Medicare/Medicaid expansion, TrumpRx.gov platform, manufacturing investments, negotiation process, tariff strategy, Supreme Court case, the medical incident, CEO remarks, FDA vouchers, safety questions, MAHA movement, and extensive Q&A on government shutdown, air traffic control, Thanksgiving costs, India relations, NYC politics, and healthcare reform.
Assistance from Claude AI.
Participants
Donald Trump – President of the United States
Robert F. Kennedy Jr. – Secretary of Health and Human Services
Mehmet Oz – Administrator, Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS)
Marty Makary – Commissioner, Food and Drug Administration (FDA)
Chris Klomp – Director of Medicare, CMS
Howard Lutnick – Secretary of Commerce
David Ricks – Chief Executive Officer, Eli Lilly
Mike Doustdar – Chief Executive Officer, Novo Nordisk
Tom Emmer – Congressional Leader (attended with spouse)
Abe Sutton – Director, CMS Innovation Center
Inma Hernandez – CMS official involved in negotiations
John Brooks – CMS official involved in negotiations
Beth Kelly – Legal counsel, CMS
Dave Moore – Novo Nordisk negotiating team member
Karsten Knudsen – Novo Nordisk negotiating team member
Gordon Findlay – Global Brand Director, Novo Nordisk (fainted during event)
The Drug Pricing Announcement: GLP-1 Drugs Become Affordable
President Trump opened the event by declaring that his administration was “bringing drug prices down to levels nobody ever thought was possible, tremendous cuts, 200 percent, 300 percent, 500 percent, 700 percent and even more than that.” He announced that Eli Lilly and Novo Nordisk, the world’s two largest pharmaceutical manufacturers, had agreed to offer their most popular GLP-1 weight loss drugs at drastically discounted prices for American patients.
The drugs covered in the announcement include Zepbound and Wegovy, often referred to collectively as Ozempic (though technically Ozempic is the diabetes formulation of semaglutide). Trump praised the medications effusively, saying “they are really effective drugs and so far I’ve never heard anything bad about them; I only hear good about them.” He asked HHS Secretary Bobby Kennedy if there was “anything bad about them,” to which Kennedy did not provide a negative assessment.
Trump thanked the CEOs personally, noting that David Ricks of Eli Lilly is “a friend of mine” and that “He and I got this whole thing started in a way.” He also praised Novo Nordisk CEO Mike Doustdar, calling both executives “great talented people” who “make a lot of money” but are “entitled to the money because the companies are doing very well.”
Price Reductions: Dramatic Drops Across Multiple Categories
Chris Klomp, the Director of Medicare, provided detailed breakdowns of the new pricing structure. For Medicare patients, manufacturers agreed to voluntarily reduce GLP-1 prices to $245 per month across all doses for drugs currently used for diabetes and other covered indications. The savings generated from these reductions will fund new coverage for obesity treatment for patients who also have high metabolic or cardiovascular risk—all at the same $245 monthly price.
Medicare patients will pay just $50 per month in co-pays, down from the current out-of-pocket cost of approximately $500 per month. As Trump emphasized multiple times, the drug Wegovy will drop from $1,350 per month to ultimately $250 per month, while Zepbound will fall from $1,080 to $346 per month.
For new oral GLP-1 formulations currently under development, both companies committed to pricing at no more than $149 per month. Trump highlighted this reduction dramatically: “you go from $1,300 to $149 a month.” Klomp noted that this price was “$1 less than what you asked us to achieve,” drawing attention to Trump’s specific involvement in setting price targets.
For Medicaid, both Novo and Lilly agreed to extend the same new low government pricing to all 50 state programs, should states opt in. The drugs will be available not just for diabetes but also for obesity treatment. On the new TrumpRx platform, injectable and oral GLP-1s will start at an average of $350, compared to roughly $500 currently, and will trend down to $245 per month over 24 months.
International Price Disparities and the Most Favored Nations Policy
Trump dedicated substantial attention to explaining the massive price disparities that existed between American and international markets. He stated that Americans had been “spending as much as 520 percent more for Zepbound and 1,400 percent more for Wegovy than patients in Europe.” Using a simplified example, he explained: “you’ll pay $150 for a pill in New York and you’ll pay $10 for a pill in London.”
The President framed this as a longstanding injustice that his Most Favored Nations policy would correct. He explained that under his executive order from earlier in 2025, “Americans should pay no more than the lowest price offered anywhere in the world.” Trump acknowledged that implementing this globally would raise prices slightly in the U.S. (using the example of both New York and London paying $20 instead of $10 and $150), but emphasized this represented “a tremendous advantage to our country after years of being abused by the world system.”
The President provided context on America’s disproportionate share of pharmaceutical profits: “The United States has just 4 percent of the world’s population and consumes only 13 percent of all prescription drugs. Yet pharmaceutical companies make 75 percent of their profits from the American customer.” Trump called this arrangement “not so good” and “not exactly great.”
Dr. Mehmet Oz reinforced the fairness argument, noting that Americans have been “getting ripped off paying three times more than their European counterparts for the exact same product made in the same factory, in the same bottle, in the same packaging.” He criticized the previous system where “the number one zip code in America for purchasing GLP-1 drugs” was the Upper East Side of Manhattan, where Trump owns property, rather than areas with the highest obesity rates.
Medicare and Medicaid Coverage Expansion: A Major Policy Shift
President Trump announced a fundamental change in government health insurance coverage: “Until now neither of these two popular drugs have been covered by Medicare for weight loss and they’ve only rarely been covered by Medicaid.” This coverage gap had left millions of Americans, particularly seniors and low-income individuals, unable to afford medications that could dramatically improve their health.
Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. emphasized the social justice dimensions of the coverage expansion, describing obesity as “a disease of poverty, overwhelmingly” and noting that “this drug, these drugs have only been available for people who have wealth.” He pointed out that “at one point, the majority of prescriptions, the highest concentration of prescriptions in this country was the Upper West Side of Manhattan,” while people in rural areas and urban food deserts who most needed the medications couldn’t access them.
Kennedy explained the health rationale for prioritizing GLP-1 coverage: “Obesity is the number one driver of chronic disease. 50 percent of our adult population are obese or overweight and it drives about 50 percent of healthcare costs in this country, diabetes, cardiac diseases.” He predicted the agreement would lead to “a decline because of this historic agreement. We’re going to see a decline in costs, but also more importantly, in the afflictions themselves.”
Dr. Oz provided specific projections on the scale of impact and cost-effectiveness. He stated that “one in three people who can hear my voice are eligible for these medications,” highlighting the enormous potential reach of the expanded coverage. Addressing concerns about government spending, Oz made a remarkable claim: “we believe these deals within two years—within two years, by the time the ink dries on these contracts that were signed earlier today, within two years, based on our health improvements, we will be budget neutral. These drugs will not cost us money.”
The administration projected dramatic health outcomes from the expanded access. Oz initially stated that “Americans will lose 125 million pounds by this time next year,” but later corrected this to “135 billion pounds by the midterms.” However, he emphasized that he measures success not in pounds but in “save lives. People can sleep again because they can breathe when they go to bed. Folks whose knees don’t hurt, people who don’t have heart attacks, renal failure, dementia, all the things we know are associated with obesity and much more.”
Chris Klomp detailed the mechanics of making the deal cost-neutral: “The savings from the diabetes drug price reductions are being used in a cost-neutral way to fund the new indications for taxpayers.” He explained that existing Medicare spending on GLP-1s for diabetes would be reduced, and those savings would be reallocated to cover obesity treatment for eligible patients—all within the same budget.
Klomp predicted broader benefits beyond direct healthcare savings: “together with physical activity, with healthy eating and diet and where appropriate, the use of breakthrough GLP-1s, the real return on investment is healthier Americans, lower chronic disease, lower costs, we estimate by tens of billions of dollars a year. And most importantly, higher productivity.”
TrumpRx.gov: The New Drug Distribution Platform
President Trump announced that these drugs, along with other medications at reduced prices, would be available through a new government website called TrumpRx.gov. Trump noted with characteristic humor that “they wanted to use my name” and added “it’d better be good.” He expressed confidence that “I think it’s turning out to be pretty amazing, right, Oz?”
When Trump asked “When is TrumpRx.com opening?” Dr. Oz clarified that “The site is open, it will launch in terms of giving people prices before the end of the year.” Trump responded with concern about the website’s success given that it bears his name: “Got to make sure it’s successful, it’s got my name on it. I don’t want to be like so many others.”
He then launched into a criticism of other high-profile infrastructure and building projects he views as failures, mentioning “the train they’re building in California, which has about a 15,000 percent cost overrun, or the Obama, the beautiful Obama building that he’s building in Chicago for the museum, which is now shuttered up and dead.” Trump said the Obama Presidential Center is “about would you say five years behind schedule and about 2,000 percent over budget. Then he tells us how to run Medicaid.”
Chris Klomp explained that all companies participating in Most Favored Nations agreements have committed to making “all primary care drugs US net prices or most favored nation prices available on Trumprx before the end of the year.”
David Ricks of Eli Lilly addressed questions about how the TrumpRx platform would integrate with commercial insurance, noting that “commercial plans and PBMs increasingly are enabling access for their beneficiaries, their patients to make purchases in the cash market and then still receive coverage under their accumulators and their deductibles.” He confirmed that “absolutely Trumprx is being built to enable just that behavior and drive transparency in the process.”
Pharmaceutical Manufacturing Investments in the United States
President Trump announced major domestic investment commitments from both companies as part of the agreements. Eli Lilly committed to investing $27 billion in U.S. manufacturing facilities, while Novo Nordisk pledged $10 billion. Trump joked about these figures being “all?” and “peanuts,” but emphasized their significance as part of a larger reshoring trend.
Trump placed these pharmaceutical investments within the context of what he claimed was an unprecedented wave of domestic investment across all industries. He stated: “That’s part of what will be $20 or $21 trillion this year. There’s never been anything like it.” He insisted, “Whether it’s China or Europe or you could take all of Europe, there’s never been anything like this.”
The President provided his running tally: “So we’re already past $17 trillion. We’re going to be—I think by the time the year closes out, we’ll have investments of over $21 trillion, based on the way we’re going.” He directly attributed this investment boom to his policies: “by the way, tariffs are very important. Without tariffs, perhaps it could be a little bit different, to put it mildly.”
Mike Doustdar of Novo Nordisk provided additional detail on his company’s American presence and investments. He stated that over the past 10 years, Novo has “already invested $24 billion” in the United States, creating “more than 10,000 jobs” and generating “$21 billion of GDP just in 2024 alone.”
Doustdar announced ongoing expansion: “today, as I’m standing here talking, cranes are up, as you would like to say, in North Carolina because we just expanding our North Carolina manufacturing site once again with $4 billion additional.” He emphasized Novo’s American identity despite its Danish origins: “In some strange way, you could say even though we have a Danish heritage, we have been more American and been here for a long time, and proud American than many other companies that were born here and we are very proud of that.”
Doustdar made a significant commitment about future product manufacturing: “In fact, we are proud to say that our approval of Wegovy pill will be the only GLP-1 that will be manufactured end-to-end here in America by Americans and for Americans.”
Trump connected pharmaceutical manufacturing to broader national security concerns about medical independence. He recalled the COVID-19 pandemic: “during COVID, we made almost no medicine here. We had to go to China, we had to go to Ireland, we had to go to other places, UK, to get our medi—we didn’t make it here. Now we’re making it. We’ll soon be making it all here, again, because of tariffs and my election, but because of tariffs much more.”
The Negotiation Process and Key Administration Officials
Secretary Kennedy provided insight into the lengthy and complex negotiations that produced the agreement. He stated, “It took months and months of negotiations” and praised the collaboration between government officials and pharmaceutical executives. Kennedy recounted “a wonderful conversation with Mike Doustdar about his experience” where Doustdar “thanked me for the caliber of people who are on our side of the negotiating team.”
Kennedy specifically credited several key officials: Chris Klomp, who “walked away from $1 billion business in order to join this administration,” along with Inma Hernandez, David Brooks, and “of course Dr. Oz and Marty Makary who made this happen.” He emphasized that the negotiating team “saw that this could be a win-win situation, that this was not a zero-sum game.”
Kennedy contrasted the Trump administration’s approach with the previous administration: “The Biden administration tried to solve this problem, unsuccessfully, I might add, by throwing $40 billion at it.” He emphasized that the current team “were able to achieve an agreement that will actually create savings for the American public.”
Mike Doustdar confirmed Kennedy’s characterization of the negotiations, stating: “Mike Doustdar told me what a pleasure it was to negotiate with people who were smart, who had commonsense, who were able to put themselves in his position and hammer out this deal that is good for everybody.”
Doustdar also revealed that the pharmaceutical companies had long recognized the need for change but lacked a catalyst: “he said we’ve known we’ve had to do this for many years; we just haven’t been able to get over the edge. And that this—President Trump’s order, executive order, was the catalyst to do something that we always knew needed to be done.”
Dr. Oz recounted a pivotal early meeting: “In fact, the first time I heard this directly from you, sir, was in January at Mar-a-Lago where he took Secretary Kennedy, myself, Mr. Ricks, who you hear from in a second, to dinner and demanded explanations for most favored nation pricing and why, what’s wrong with it. And there was not a good reason against it.”
David Ricks of Eli Lilly confirmed his participation in the Mar-a-Lago meeting and described subsequent engagement: “this spring in this very office, I met with the president and Secretary Kennedy, Administrator Oz and others to figure out how to tackle this problem.” He stated that Trump saw the opportunity and “we left the room, and he asked us to solve it. So, seven months later we’re here.”
Broader Most Favored Nations Commitments
President Trump announced that the GLP-1 agreement represented just the latest in a series of Most Favored Nations deals with pharmaceutical companies. He stated that “Already Pfizer, AstraZeneca and EMD Serono have agreed to drastically lower their prices for American patients.”
Trump emphasized the comprehensive nature of the agreements: “In addition, Eli Lilly and Novo Nordisk have agreed to provide all of their other medications to Medicaid at most favored nations prices” and “to sell these drugs to all consumers at deeply discounted prices via TrumpRx.com.” He claimed that “Many of the most widely used drugs will be available for 60 percent off or even more than that.”
A critical forward-looking provision requires that “all new medications introduced by Eli Lilly and Novo Nordisk to the American market will be sold at the heavily reduced most favored nations price.” This ensures that future drug launches won’t circumvent the pricing agreements.
Chris Klomp confirmed that standard Most Favored Nations terms from previous announcements apply to these deals, including “Full Medicaid portfolios today at most favored nation prices. Shared savings from existing drug prices in Europe deployed back to the United States” and “most importantly, all future drug launches across commercial, Medicaid, Medicare and the cash markets at most favored nation prices going forward.”
Dr. Oz contextualized the GLP-1 announcement within the broader drug pricing initiative: “Today’s the fourth MFN; President Trump highlighted the first three, leading US company leading European company. We’ve dropped infertility drugs to make lots of Trump babies I’m hoping by the midterms.”
Tariffs as Negotiating Leverage: The Core Strategy
President Trump repeatedly emphasized that his tariff authority was essential to achieving the pharmaceutical pricing agreements. He explained his strategy clearly: “To address this chronic unfairness, I signed an executive order earlier this year instructing my administration to do everything in our power to implement most favored nations drug pricing, something that has been helped greatly by tariffs because when nations refuse to do it—we should have put this in the case yesterday.”
Trump described his negotiating approach: “I just say, well, if you’re not going to do it, we’re going to charge you a like amount of tariffs. And they immediately say we’ll do it.” This threat-based strategy, he argued, gave pharmaceutical companies and foreign governments strong incentives to accept Most Favored Nations pricing rather than face retaliatory tariffs on their exports.
The President provided a recent example of tariff effectiveness: “if you look at China, by putting a large 100 percent tariff over and above the tariffs they already paid, they came to the table. They talked. We made a wonderful deal for everybody. Our farmers, as you know, with the soybeans at levels that nobody’s ever seen before.”
Trump connected tariffs to his broader foreign policy achievements, particularly war prevention. He recounted the India-Pakistan crisis: “If you take a look at India and Pakistan, they started to fight. They’re two nuclear nations. They were shooting each other. Eight planes were shot down…And I said, listen, if you guys are going to fight, I’m going to put tariffs on you. And they both went—you know, they were not happy about that. And within 24 hours they settled the war.”
Trump claimed he had ended eight wars during his presidency, with “five or six were ended because of tariffs.” He characterized tariffs as essential for national security: “it’s great national defense and you have to be quick moving. You can’t wait around for months and months while you’re doing studies and you’re doing all of this, or go back to Congress.”
The President defended tariffs against critics who characterize them as taxes on Americans, arguing: “I think that they might be paying something, but when you take the overall impact, the Americans are gaining tremendously. They’re gaining through national security…They’re gaining in economics. They’re gaining in so many different ways and they’re gaining in self-respect for our own country.”
The Supreme Court Tariff Case: Uncertainty and Stakes
The pharmaceutical pricing announcement came at a moment of acute uncertainty about Trump’s tariff authority. The Supreme Court had heard oral arguments the previous day (November 5, 2025) in a case challenging the President’s broad use of tariffs, and Trump referenced the case extensively during the event.
When asked about the Supreme Court justices expressing “some skepticism” during oral arguments, Trump responded: “I’d rather discuss that later. I hope we’re going to win that case. I think it’s one of the most important cases in the history of our country. So much revolves around tariffs as a defensive mechanism for our country, as national security for our country.”
Trump characterized a potential adverse ruling in dire terms: “The decision in the Supreme Court would be devastating to our country if we got a negative, devastating if we got a negative decision.” He elaborated: “I think it would be devastating for our country…It would be a shame. It would be a—it would be somewhat catastrophic for our country, I have to be honest with you.”
The President acknowledged that “Most people tell me we did very well, legally” during the oral arguments, but also indicated he was preparing contingency plans: “I also think that we’ll have to develop a game two plan. We’ll see what happens.”
When asked whether he would announce new tariffs before the Supreme Court decision, Trump indicated he would not: “No. This is the best one and we can do other things, but they’re slow by comparison.” He explained the appeal of his current tariff authority: “with the 100 percent, I was able to do it instantaneously when we were threatened by the rare earths, as you know, the magnets. And I did it instantaneously. It was a matter of seconds and it was a matter of seconds that I got a phone call, let’s work this out.”
Trump suggested a potential catastrophic financial impact if forced to reverse tariffs already collected: “we’d have to pay back trillions of dollars. We’ve taken in trillions. We haven’t taken in billions; we’ve taken in trillions of dollars.”
One reporter pressed Trump on Chief Justice Roberts‘ statement during oral arguments that “tariffs are taxes and that they’re paid by Americans.” Trump rejected this characterization, arguing: “those same countries that you talk about are charging us massive amounts of money. If you look at the tariffs over the years that were put on our heads, there’s a reason we’re $38 trillion owed.”
Despite the uncertainty, Trump repeatedly emphasized that losing tariff authority would leave America “defenseless against tariffs from other countries” and characterized the case as possibly “the most important case maybe in the history of our country.”
The Medical Incident: Gordon Findlay Faints During Ceremony
The event was briefly interrupted when Gordon Findlay, a global brand director at Novo Nordisk, fainted at 12:35 p.m. during David Ricks‘ remarks. Ricks was mid-sentence—”For nearly 150 years, my company, Eli Lilly has been investing in America. We’ve been advancing science and creating high-value jobs, but today we—oh, are you OK? Gordon, are you OK?”—when he noticed Findlay collapsing.
Someone called for “a chair” and an aide announced “Press out,” clearing reporters from the room. Ricks said “Yeah. OK. Let’s take a break. Yeah” and the event paused. According to a note in the transcript, “The White House said he recovered completely. The event resumed at 1:33 pm”—meaning there was approximately a one-hour interruption.
When the event resumed, President Trump explained: “Well, thank you very much. One of the Representatives of the companies—one of the companies, got a little bit lightheaded. You saw he went down and he’s fine, they just sent him out. He’s got doctor’s care, but he’s fine. So, we had a little bit of an interruption, sorry for that.”
The incident was handled quickly and professionally, with medical attention provided immediately. The transcript indicates no further complications, and the event proceeded with all planned speakers delivering their remarks.
CEO Remarks: Ricks and Doustdar on the Agreements
David Ricks of Eli Lilly framed the agreement as “a historic step forward, to expand access to a class of medications that can fundamentally change the arc of chronic disease in our country.” He emphasized that “medicine only is effective when people can access and afford it and that’s what today’s announcement delivers.”
Ricks drew parallels to a previous collaboration with Trump on insulin pricing. He recounted: “Nine years ago, when I started this job, I promised to read every letter a patient sent me, and back then there was hope for new treatments, but a lot of complaints about insulin pricing.” He explained that “it wasn’t actually until I spoke to the president, this is in your first term. And you ordered the HHS team to work with us to really solve that problem.”
The insulin initiative included launching “a copy of our own medicine at 90 percent off, and then we capped the price of insulin for Medicare patients at $35.” Trump interjected that “Biden tried to take credit for it,” to which Ricks confirmed: “Yeah, that was in your first term.”
Trump elaborated on the timing issue: “Yeah, we did it and then it came through during the early part of his term, and he tried to take credit…I always said—frankly, I said this is not good because statutorily, it had to wait a little while and it came out at $35 instead of some crazy amount.” Trump concluded: “that was done by Trump and Lilly.”
Ricks emphasized the clinical benefits beyond weight loss: “Our medicine cut progression from prediabetes to type 2 diabetes by 94 percent after three years in major studies, and many studies have shown the benefits that Dr. Oz spoke about with cardiovascular risk reduction.”
He announced that the agreement “accelerates approval of a new treatment—that are easier to take and highly effective like our once daily oral pill Orforglipron, and we have other treatments in development.” Ricks noted that coverage would begin quickly: “As early as April 1, this coverage can begin for our medicines and Novo’s medicines.”
Ricks called on other stakeholders to follow the government’s lead: “We call on states, on employers, on commercial insurers, even PBMs to join and expand coverage at affordable prices for all Americans.”
Mike Doustdar of Novo Nordisk emphasized the unusual collaboration between fierce competitors: “Dave and I compete on a daily basis, quite hard I would say. But because of you and because of this process and administration, we are standing here hand in hand as friends to have a common cause. And the cause is to really provide access to many millions of patients that yesterday did not have it.”
Doustdar positioned access to medicine as a right rather than a privilege: “At Novo Nordisk, we believe that access to life changing medicine should not be a privilege. It is a societal promise and that promise today is becoming one step closer to a hope to a reality.”
He highlighted the cultural significance of the medications: “I cannot remember any other time during, at least my lifetime, that another medicine has gotten as much attention and as much honor in the world’s scientific circle and has become a household name.”
Doustdar stressed the importance of patients accessing authentic medications rather than alternatives: “Once again, I’d like to extend my deepest gratitude to you, Mr. President, and to the whole administration for making America great again and allowing affordable access to many millions of patients living with diabetes and obesity” while ensuring “all Americans who need Ozempic or Wegovy can access the affordable medication so they don’t need to go and get an unapproved compounded knockoffs version of it.”
FDA Priority Review Vouchers: Accelerating Drug Approvals
FDA Commissioner Marty Makary announced a new incentive program to encourage pharmaceutical companies to participate in drug pricing agreements and domestic manufacturing. He explained: “the FDA is announcing as part of its new National Priority Voucher program, that both Lilly and Novo Nordisk will be receiving a voucher for a priority review because they’re doing something in this administration’s national priority interest, lowering the price of drugs to make them affordable, in line with the president’s mission, and domestic manufacturing and addressing a public health need.”
Makary revealed that the GLP-1 vouchers were “two of six products that we are announcing today.” He highlighted particularly promising cancer treatments receiving vouchers: “Treatments for cancer that are unbelievable. They are incredibly promising, a rectal cancer treatment that has melted away tumors with no need for surgery or chemo or radiation.”
The vouchers provide dramatic acceleration of the approval process: “They’ll be getting a voucher for a review by the FDA in weeks instead of a year.” Makary emphasized the administration’s seriousness about the incentive structure: “So we’re serious. We’re doing everything we can to incentivize this.”
Makary connected drug pricing to broader healthcare affordability: “the fastest area of healthcare spending growth is drug price spending growth. And so we’re seeing lowering healthcare drug prices as a vehicle to make insurance more affordable, private insurance, Medicaid more affordable, Medicare more affordable and healthcare in general, more affordable.”
He positioned the approach as fundamentally different from typical healthcare policy: “This is an amazing day because people talk about different ways to finance the broken healthcare system. This is fixing the broken healthcare system by dealing with two root causes, the price of goods and services, something hardly anyone talks about, and the health of the population.”
Side Effects and Safety Questions
A reporter asked about “informed consent on side effects” noting that “There are lawsuits against these companies that some people experienced damage to their gut health, vision loss and other potentially serious side effects.” The question sought assurance that “Americans are able to make the best choice of the risks versus the rewards.”
President Trump responded by emphasizing positive reports: “I’ve heard about very little side effects with respect to these drugs. I mean it’s all positive and that’s usually not the case. I mean, usually you hear bad things. You see these crazy commercials on television where they tell you 15 different things that can go wrong and then you’re supposed to buy it. Very few.”
Dr. Oz provided a more balanced medical perspective: “There are always going to be side effects of anything—anything strong enough to help you strong enough to hurt you. The question is, is the trade off worth it? We know the ravaging risks of obesity and all downstream issues ranging from diabetes and hypertension to renal failure or dementia, heart disease, my specialty.”
David Ricks emphasized the medications’ established track record: “as Dr. Oz said, no drug that can help you has no side effects. Most of them are well known. We’ve been using this class of medications for nearly 20 years, and that’s why it’s important that patients go to their doctor and decide together whether this is right for them.”
Ricks stressed the importance of medical supervision: “their doctor knows their medical history and has the information about these medications. But we’re confident in the safety, but there’s always some precautions we should have in people’s own medical histories matter in that decision.”
The executives also addressed the issue of unapproved alternatives. When Trump asked Mike Doustdar “Is that a big problem for you, knockoffs?” Doustdar confirmed: “It has been—yes, it has been. But on the other hand, of course, patients have to be able to afford it.”
Trump pressed further: “Are the knockoffs dangerous?” Doustdar responded: “The knockoffs are not FDA—the API, the raw ingredient that goes into them are not FDA approved. So, nothing is as good as the original.” This exchange underscored one rationale for reducing prices of authentic medications—to discourage patients from seeking unregulated alternatives.
MAHA Movement and Holistic Health Approach
Throughout the event, administration officials emphasized that GLP-1 drugs are one component of a broader health initiative they call MAHA (Make America Healthy Again). Secretary Kennedy stated repeatedly that the medications are “not a panacea. It’s not a silver bullet” and “It is not a silver bullet. It is an arrow in our quiver.”
Kennedy explained the comprehensive approach: “President Trump has also instructed us to address and end the root causes of chronic disease. And we’re doing that. We’re about to release dietary guidelines that are going to change the food culture in this country. They’re going to change the kind of food the military gets. They’re going to change the kind of food that our children get. We’re releasing those in December.”
He also announced plans to increase physical activity: “The Presidential Council for Physical Fitness is going to get more Americans into—particularly our children, into physical activity so that we can attack the root causes of this.”
Dr. Oz reinforced this message: “Now MAHA is critical. America will have to get fit in order to right size the health care system and MAHA has the answers. It has obesity management through diet and exercise and sleep and dealing with issues related to that. And I want to say it as clear as I can—obesity is not an absence of GLP-1 drugs. We’re all clear on that.”
However, Oz also defended the role of medications within the broader strategy: “But as Secretary Kennedy said, it is an arrow in our quiver that we must use and should use. The Maha movement means making it easier for the right things to happen, easier for you to be healthy.”
Kennedy explained how GLP-1s fit into the larger vision: “It will allow a lot of people who are locked into high-risk obesity to finally lose weight, to reset and then start doing the kind of things that will address the root cause of obesity.”
The administration framed obesity as fundamentally linked to the American food system and economic circumstances. Kennedy described how many Americans “live in food deserts and are suffering from obesity and are locked into that system where they can only get ultra-processed foods which are aggravating the problem.” The medications, in this view, provide a pathway to break free from circumstances beyond individual control.
Tylenol and Pregnancy: A Brief Policy Exchange
In a brief exchange near the end of Secretary Kennedy‘s remarks, President Trump asked: “Bobby, you haven’t changed your view on Tylenol for women that are pregnant?” Trump explained: “Because there were some false reports out about Tylenol that Bobby changed his view. I don’t think he’s changed his view.”
Kennedy confirmed his position had not shifted: “I’m not going to change until the science changes and the science does not look like it’s changing. It’s getting stronger and stronger.” He explained the administration’s recommendation: “Every day we recommend is that mothers, pregnant mothers talk to their physicians, that mothers of small kids talk to their physicians.”
Trump clarified the guidance being provided to doctors: “And we’ve advised the physicians to reduce the thresholds and to reduce the amount of Tylenol that they give to children as much as possible and only use it when it’s absolutely critical.”
This exchange provided a window into another controversial health policy area where the administration has taken positions at odds with longstanding medical consensus, though it was not elaborated upon further during the drug pricing event.
Government Shutdown and Congressional Politics
Several reporters pressed President Trump on the ongoing government shutdown and whether he would encourage Republicans in Congress to change their negotiating position. Trump responded by calling for elimination of the Senate filibuster to break the impasse.
“I think it’s time for them to end the filibuster and just put everybody back to work, vote in voter I.D., vote in no mail in voting, except for military, far away military and people that are very sick,” Trump said. He advocated for “one day voting. I’d like to see not 65 days of voting from all over the place.”
Trump listed other priorities he wanted to advance without Democratic cooperation: “I’d like to clean up the elections. The border, we’ve done a great job. We have a great strong border now, but I’d like to see new rules on immigration that could be fair and good…There’s so many things we could put in, including tax cuts that we could get and we could do it all ourselves. But to do that, you have to end the filibuster.”
The President predicted that Democrats would eliminate the filibuster themselves if they regained power: “what the Democrats will do is they’re going to make Puerto Rico a state. They’re going to make DC a state. They’re going to pack the court. They’re going to end up with more electoral votes. They’re going to end up with four Senators because of the two states.”
Trump argued for preemptive action: “And they’re going to do this 100 percent. They would have done it except Manchin and Sinema got in their way, they would have done it. So, if they’re going to do it, I would do it, I would do it before them.”
He compared the strategy to recent Middle East events: “Like Israel, it’s a little like Israel. Israel attacked first; that attack was very, very powerful. I was very much in charge of that. When Israel attacked Iran first—that was a great day for Israel because that attack did more damage than the rest of them put together.”
Regarding FAA concerns about flight safety during the shutdown, Trump defended Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy‘s decision to reduce flights by 10 percent at major airports: “As Sean Duffy announced, they’re cutting in certain areas, 10 percent. And they want to make sure it’s 100 percent safe. That’s why they’re doing it.”
Air Traffic Control System Modernization
When asked about potentially privatizing the TSA, President Trump provided a nuanced response about government services: “I think privatizing a lot of things, but generally speaking, you know, you have government and a lot of people don’t like privatizing, but some things that—they really do, they work out better privatized. But it is government and sometimes government can be better.”
A reporter noted receiving positive feedback about air traffic controllers from pilots: “They tell me, Brian, that is the one thing the government does right is air traffic controls.” Trump agreed but announced major infrastructure investments: “Well, we’re going to do it a lot better too because we’re going to buy a new system.”
Trump revealed that new air traffic control equipment is currently under competitive bidding: “It’s under bid right now, bid about four different companies, all top of the line, like these two great companies, except, you know, in a different—slightly different field.”
He criticized the current system and previous modernization efforts: “the air traffic control equipment is 45 years old. Buttigieg spent billions of dollars trying to fix it and didn’t even use the right wire. You’re hooking up glass into copper and you can’t do that.”
Trump announced a comprehensive replacement: “We’re going to get rid of the entire system, put a brand-new system in. It’ll be expensive, but we’ll have the best air control system, meaning the control towers. They’ll be stripped down—down to the—down to the bone and brand-new equipment is being installed.” He indicated “We’ll give out that contract over the next six weeks.”
Thanksgiving Costs and Political Messaging
A reporter highlighted a Walmart report showing that “this year’s traditional Thanksgiving meal will cost 25 percent less than it did under the Biden administration, plus gas prices being down in the $2 region makes it more affordable to travel to grandma’s house this Thanksgiving.”
President Trump seized on this as validation of his economic policies. He characterized Walmart as credible because “that’s triple A” and “nobody’s going to influence them. I don’t know them, but they just came out with a very powerful statement.”
Trump emphasized the comparison to the previous administration: “Under the Biden administration, Thanksgiving meal—a Thanksgiving meal with all the trimmings cost 25 percent more. In other words, our Thanksgiving this year coming up will cost 25 percent less than Sleepy Joe Biden’s. Now, to me, that’s better than anything there is. That’s better than a poll.”
He expressed frustration with Republican political messaging: “And I was angry last night with the Republicans. I said, you don’t talk about this stuff. Nobody talks about it. You know, I rely on a question from a reporter to get that out. We should be talking about it because they talk about affordability. They don’t have affordability.”
Trump contrasted his record with Biden’s: “We had the highest inflation in the history of our country under Biden. We had high gasoline prices at $4.5, $5 a gallon. They’re going to be hitting $2 a gallon with me. They’re getting close to $2 a gallon.”
He connected energy prices to broader affordability: “And when gasoline goes down and energy goes down, everything else follows.” Trump accused Democrats of dishonesty on the issue: “What the Democrats do is they lie. We are the ones that have done great on affordability. They’ve done horribly on affordability.”
Trump acknowledged one area of higher prices: “We only have one thing, beef, because the cattle ranches are doing well. We’re going to bring the beef prices down, and they understand that, even if we have to help them out. But the beef also is not a big difference.”
He cited recent election losses as evidence that Democrats were successfully misleading voters on affordability: “And yet we just lost a couple of elections, very Democrat areas, maybe weren’t before. They weren’t very Democrat when I ran a year ago because I did well in those areas. But we just lost an election, they said based on affordability. It’s a con job by the Democrats. The Democrats are only good at con and cheating on elections.”
India Relations and Trade Negotiations
When asked about trade negotiations with India and Prime Minister Modi, President Trump responded enthusiastically: “Great. Great. He stopped—largely, he stopped buying oil from Russia.” Trump characterized Modi as “a friend of mine and we speak and he wants me to go there and I’ll—we’ll figure that out. I’ll go. I had a great trip there with Prime Minister Modi. He’s great man and I’ll be going.”
When asked specifically about timing for a potential India visit, Trump indicated it could happen: “I could be. Yeah.” This confirmed ongoing diplomatic engagement with one of America’s most important strategic partners in Asia, though Trump provided no specific details about trade negotiations or agreements.
Novo Nordisk-Pfizer Acquisition Battle
A reporter asked whether Novo Nordisk‘s potential $10 billion acquisition of a smaller obesity biotech company might face antitrust challenges, and whether Trump or the FTC had concerns “from an anti-competitive standpoint.”
President Trump interjected with characteristic humor before Mike Doustdar could respond: “Maybe you should give us a piece of the company like I’ve been asking for, give the United States a nice big chunk of the company.”
Doustdar clarified that Novo and Pfizer were actually competing to acquire the same company: “So Novo Nordisk and Pfizer right now are in the middle of an acquisition dialog and discussion.” When Trump asked “Who’s winning?” Doustdar responded confidently: “And as of today, our bid is higher and our message to Pfizer is that if they would like to buy the company, then put your hand in the pocket and bid higher. It’s a free market.”
Doustdar emphasized that the transaction was straightforward: “And at the end of it, it has to do with basically the price that the seller is selling for their shareholders and the buyers willing to pay for it. This has nothing to do with FTC. It has nothing to do with anything else.”
He explained the strategic rationale: “It’s actually—it’s a product—it’s a series of products that will come to the market in around turn of the decade, where the market is very crowded with many, many other players as well. So it’s a next generation of products.” This suggested that antitrust concerns might be minimal given the number of competitors developing similar treatments.
New York City Politics and ICE Enforcement
A reporter asked about Zohran Mamdani, a candidate in New York City’s mayoral race, noting that Trump had “called him a communist” and asked “what kind of actions are you looking at” if Mamdani won, and whether “ICE deportations continue.”
President Trump responded conditionally: “Well, I think you have to look, if he is a communist, you know, there’s not going to be a lot of activity. So you wouldn’t need bridges and tunnels and all the different things that were being planned for New York, I think.” However, Trump softened this threat somewhat: “And look, I hope—I hope New York does well. That’s all I can say. I love New York. I grew up in New York. I did well in New York, always did well and I hope New York does well. That’s all.”
On ICE enforcement, Trump emphasized targeting criminals: “ICE raids, well, you want to get criminals out. If they’re criminals, we want to get them out. Ideally, we wouldn’t have to do it, because he’ll send the criminals out himself, but that seems to be unlikely. No, we have to get criminals out.”
Trump provided specific numbers: “You know, millions of people were let into our country from prisons and from mental institutions and drug dealers, a lot of drug dealers and murderers, 11,888 murderers. 50 percent of them committed more than one murder and we want to get them out.”
He emphasized this was a national priority: “So whether they’re in New York or anywhere else, we want to get them out.” Trump contrasted current conditions in Washington D.C. with a year earlier: “All of you know, you see the difference between what it was now and what it was a year ago under Biden. It was a—it was a death trap and now it’s a—people walk down the street. They have dinner. The restaurants are booming. Washington D.C. is great.”
Trump also highlighted improvements in Memphis: “I will tell you, Memphis is doing really well too. You’re hearing those reports. It’s—companies were going to move out. They’re not going to move out anymore. We’ve done a great job and we’ve only been there for four weeks.”
He reiterated the focus on removing dangerous individuals: “But if they have killers in New York, we want to get them out. If they have murderers, if they have people from jails that they allowed out of their jails in order to save a lot of money, we want them out of here. We want to put them back in their jails, not our jails.”
Obamacare and Healthcare Reform
When asked about extending ACA tax credits for middle-class individuals buying insurance, President Trump said the administration was examining various options: “I don’t weigh in, but we’re looking at all of that right now. We’re looking at all of it. There are a lot of great ideas out there, including for health care.”
Trump criticized the Affordable Care Act directly: “Obamacare is a disaster, the Obamacare premium is going to go up 17 or 18 percent. And that’s not my fault. I didn’t want Obamacare; that’s the fault of the people that put it in, the Democrats, and now they want it subsidized further.”
He suggested the subsidies created unfairness: “But you know, when you take it from them, you take it from a lot of other people. We could have much better health care, much better health care at a much lower price.” This indicated the administration was considering healthcare reforms beyond pharmaceutical pricing, though Trump provided no specific proposals.
Sources and Attribution
Trump, Donald, et al. “Remarks: Donald Trump Announces Deals to Lower Some Prescription Drug Prices – November 6, 2025.” Factbase, 6 Nov. 2025, factba.se/transcript.