President Trump just gave Big Pharma an ultimatum: slash drug prices or face consequences.
In a July letter sent to the CEOs of 17 major pharmaceutical companies, Trump demanded that prescription drug prices in the U.S. be reduced to match the lowest prices available in other developed countries.
This pricing is also known as the most-favored nation (MFN) price within 60 days.
“The federal government will deploy every tool in our arsenal to protect American families from continued abusive drug pricing practices,” Trump wrote.
The president also promised that manufacturers who bypass middlemen and sell directly to consumers at MFN pricing will receive full support from his administration.
That’s good news for direct-to-consumer platforms like GoodRx (GDRX), which is already making moves to cash in on Big Pharma’s shake-up.
GoodRx’s GLP-1 moment
On Monday, GoodRx announced a partnership with Novo Nordisk (NVO) to sell brand-name Ozempic and Wegovy for $499/month effective immediately.
The move gives consumers a legal and affordable way to access two of the most in-demand GLP-1 drugs on the market, used to treat diabetes and support weight loss.
Demand for these drugs has exploded, prompting companies like Hims & Hers (HMS) to fill the gap with compounded and legally murky copycat versions.
GoodRx stock soared 37.3% on the news, while Novo Nordisk shares rose 3.7%.
In a statement, GoodRx CEO Wendy Barnes said nearly 17 million people have visited the platform in the last year searching for GLP-1 medications, a 22% increase year over year.
“Demand for GLP-1 medications is at an all-time high,” Barnes said. “By partnering with Novo Nordisk, we’re taking a significant step forward in making these innovative brand-name treatments more accessible.”
She also emphasized that GoodRx is staying on the right side of the law.
“There’s no question we could have tried to do something sooner from a compounded alternative pathway,” Barnes told Yahoo Finance, “but we have been very clear in our belief that it needed to be FDA-approved, lawfully approved.”
GoodRx will sell the GLP-1s as FDA-approved injectable pens.
Compounding crackdown
The FDA temporarily allowed compounded GLP-1 drugs during a supply shortage, but now that the agency says the shortage is over, those alternatives are technically illegal.
Some companies found a legal loophole and continue selling them as “personalized medicine.”
That loophole allows a patient to be prescribed a modified version of a drug if they can’t tolerate the original but it’s being exploited, regulators warn.
Novo Nordisk isn’t tolerating it. In June, the drugmaker terminated its collaboration with Hims & Hers after the company refused to pull its compounded GLP-1 offerings.
With a high-profile White House push and a legitimate path to market, GoodRx may have just positioned itself as the compliant, scalable solution for GLP-1 access in America.
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