In an erratic soliloquy before he signed an executive order to bring down the price of prescription drugs, President Donald Trump took aim at the "fat shot drug" he said was an example of how Big Pharma inflates the cost of medications.
Trump was presumably talking about the popular GLP-1 drugs on the market under a variety of brand names.
"I'll tell you a story," Trump began, as Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and Dr. Mehmet Oz looked on.
"A friend of mine who's a a businessman — very, very, very top guy. Most of you would have heard of him. Highly neurotic, brilliant businessman. Seriously overweight. And he takes the fat, the fat shot drug."
Trump continued, "And he called me up and he said, 'President,' he calls me — he used to call me Donald. Now he calls me 'President.' So that's nice. Respect. But he's a tough guy. Smart guy. Very successful, very rich."
EXCLUSIVE: Breastfeeding mom of US citizen sues Kristi Noem after being grabbed by ICE
Trump then reenacted his conversation with his "seriously overweight" friend.
"'President. could I ask you a question?' What? 'I'm in London, and I just paid for this damn fat drug that I take. I said 'It's not working.' He said, he said, 'I just paid $88, and in New York I pay $1,300. What the hell is going on?' he said. 'So, I checked, and it's the same box made in the same plant by the same company. It's the identical pill that I buy in New York, and here I'm paying $88 in London. In New York, I'm paying $1,300.'
"Now, this is a great businessman, so, but he's not familiar with this crazy situation that we have. But he was stunned. But it was just one of those stories."
Trump said he personally negotiated with "the drug companies represented by somebody who's very, very smart" to bring down prices.
"We argued about it for about half an hour, and then finally he just said — because they can't justify it — he just said, 'Look. You got me, you got me. I can no longer just — you know, they've been justifying this crap for years."