Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. defended President Donald Trump’s claim of 600 percent drug price cuts on Thursday during an event at the White House where Trump announced a most-favored-nation pricing deal with drugmaker Regeneron.
The April 23 announcement marked the 17th such agreement with major pharmaceutical companies. It aims to lower prices for Americans on certain drugs to match the lowest rates paid in other developed countries.
During the event, Kennedy addressed questions about the administration’s repeated statements that TrumpRx has delivered cuts of up to 600 percent on some prescription drugs.
Kennedy’s wrong and misleading calculation
Kennedy said President Trump calculates percentages in his own way. He told the group and reporters that there are two ways to figure percentages.
As an example, Kennedy said if a drug costs $600 and the price drops to $100, that counts as a 600 percent reduction.
“One of the Democrats was ridiculing President Trump for his math, and she was saying it’s mathematically impossible to have any drug drop by 600% cost.
“And I said, well, if the drug was $100 and it raised the price by $600. That would be a 600% rise. If it drops from 600 to 100, that’s a 600% savings,” Kennedy said.
That math does not work under normal rules. A price cut from $600 to $100 saves $500. Divide that by the starting price of $600 and multiply by 100, and the reduction comes to about 83 percent.
A full 600 percent cut from $600 would mean subtracting six times the base amount. The result would be negative $3,000, meaning the company would pay the patient $3,000 to take the drug.
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Kennedy also told Trump that if a drug rose from $100 to $600, it represented a 600 percent increase. Bringing it back from $600 to $100 would then equal 600 percent in savings, he said. Trump agreed. Kennedy added that the big number showed “the magnitude of the theft” by drug companies.
Even that example falls short on standard math. Going from $100 to $600 is a $500 jump. Divided by the starting $100, that equals a 500 percent increase, not 600 percent.
The most-favored-nation deals push U.S. prices closer to those paid abroad. Regeneron becomes the latest company to sign on after the administration sent letters last year to 17 big drugmakers.
Officials say the agreements will reduce costs for Medicaid patients and make selected brand-name drugs cheaper through the TrumpRx platform.
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Critics have pointed out that many drugs on TrumpRx still cost more than generic versions available at stores like Costco. They also note that the program covers only a small share of all prescription medicines.
Kennedy argued that the large percentage figures help show how much Americans have overpaid for years. He said the deals steer patients toward lower-cost options and put pressure on brand-name drug makers.
The White House continues to promote TrumpRx as a major step forward. Thursday’s Regeneron announcement came as part of that effort.
Kennedy stood with Trump and reiterated that the president views the savings in line with the full scale of past price hikes.
The exchange quickly drew attention online, with many people noting the difference between Kennedy’s explanation and basic percentage rules taught in school.
Others said the real issue remains high drug costs, no matter how the numbers get described.
