Trump’s “Impossible” Prescription Drug Price Cuts: A Deep Dive

President Donald Trump has repeatedly claimed his administration cut prescription-drug prices by “500%, 600%, 1,000% and even 1,500%.” Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. defended the figures, saying the president “has a different way of calculating” and that a $600 drug reduced to $10 is a “600 percent reduction.” The claim underpins the TrumpRx initiative, which the White House touts as aligning U.S. drug costs with those of other wealthy nations.

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Standard calculations contradict the administration’s numbers. A $600-to-$10 cut is a 98.3 % reduction, not 600 %. A $242-to-$10 cut is 95.9 % off. A $600-to-$100 drop is 83.3 % off. A $521-vs-$45 price gap between the United States and Australia reflects a 91.4 % decrease, despite the claim of a “roughly 1,000 % higher” U.S. price. A Senate-commissioned report cited by Senator Sanders shows companies negotiating with the administration earned $177 billion in profit in 2025—a 66 % rise—while CEOs received $346 million, a 24 % increase.

Washington Examiner

Trump framed the percentages as “different ways of calculating” and said “it doesn’t make any difference.” Kennedy echoed the “different way” defense, citing the $600-to-$10 example. Oz said the math “is too high to calculate without a more studied approach.” White House spokesperson Kush Desai asserted that Trump correctly noted Americans pay “several times more” than peers abroad.

CNN

Senator Elizabeth Warren called the 600 % claim a suggestion that “companies should be paying you to take their drugs.” Sanders’ report argued TrumpRx delivers “little to no price relief” and that many listed drugs cost more than generics at retailers like Costco. Fact-checkers from AP, PolitiFact and the Associated Press confirmed that reductions over 100 % are mathematically impossible.

Newsweek

Sources differ on the meaning of “percentage reduction.” The administration cites “two ways of calculating,” while analysts use standard percentage-change formulas. The White House has refused to release the full drug-price agreements, citing confidentiality, creating a verification gap.

CNN

• “President Trump has a different way of calculating. If – there’s two ways of calculating percentage. If you have a $600 drug and you reduce it to $10, that’s a 600% reduction.” — Robert F. Kennedy Jr., Health Secretary

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• “But there are two ways of calculating it.” — Donald Trump, President

CNN

• “I don’t know what the math is on that. We can’t even calculate it. It’s a lot. It’s too high to calculate without a more studied approach.” — Dr. Mehmet Oz, CMS Administrator

CNN

• “Six hundred percent, which I think means companies should be paying you to take their drugs.” — Elizabeth Warren, U.S. Senator

People Magazine

The Senate Finance Committee has scheduled additional hearings to press the administration for the full drug-price agreements, and the White House has said it will consider releasing more data pending legal review.

Newsweek