Man down in the Oval Office.
President Donald Trump held a press conference in the Oval Office of the White House on Thursday to announce a deal with large drug companies to lower the price of some weight-loss drugs. But it was a chaotic event to say the least, with Trump giving out the wrong domain name for his new website, false claims from Trump officials, and even a pharmaceutical exec fainting.
Trump first announced that deals had been made to reduce the price of Eli Lilly’s Zepbound and Novo Nordisk’s Wegovy GLP-1 weight-loss drugs. Trump claims the cost of Zepbound will drop from $1,080 to $346 and the cost of Wegovy will go from $1,300 to $250 a month, though it’s not yet clear whether that will be true for everyone.
The White House often misleads the public about the real impact of its efforts to reform healthcare costs. And Trump often makes splashy announcements that turn out to be wildly misleading after the public learns the full context.
“$1,300 to $250, did I do a good job? They don’t write about it,” Trump said, pointing at the reporters in the room, “you know, they like to not write these things.”
“You think Biden could’ve done this? I don’t think so,” said Trump, desperate to claim credit for a win.
Trump said the drugs were “often called Ozempic,” though that’s not completely accurate.
