In other words, DTC websites run by pharmaceutical companies “selectively use telehealth companies to inappropriately steer patients toward specific, higher-cost drugs and increase Big Pharma’s profit margins,” the senators write.
In last year’s investigation of Eli Lilly and Pfizer’s DTC platforms, senators found that the pharmaceutical giants “spent up to $3 million combined to partner with telehealth companies that routed patients to the manufacturers’ products. … In one example, 100 percent of patients who had a virtual visit with one of Eli Lilly’s chosen telehealth companies received a prescription.”
Senators say there is already reason to suspect a conflict of interest with TrumpRx. “There is a potential connection between TrumpRx and BlinkRx, an online dispensing company, on the board of which the President’s son, Donald Trump, Jr., sits through February 2025,” the senators write.
Lawmakers are concerned that TrumpRx would violate the anti-kickback statute, which prohibits payments to induce patients to use services or products that are reimbursable by a federal health care program.
Brian Reed, principal at health consultancy Reed Strategic, speculated to POLITICO that the delay in the launch of TrumpRx may be related to anti-kickback law concerns.
“In any other administration, this would be 100 percent AKS content,” Reed said. “It’s clear there is an advocate somewhere at HHS who is concerned about anti-kickbacks.”
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