Drug prices are soaring costs amid grand promises that look like more of Trump’s lies

In the grand theater of American politics, where the curtain never falls on promises to ease the burdens of everyday life, a new report from Sen. Bernie Sanders presents a stark narrative.

It tells a story that, despite public assurances to slash prescription drug prices, politicians’ actions have sent those costs soaring.

Since President Donald Trump took office on Jan. 20, the prices of 688 prescription drugs have climbed, a trend that persisted even after the administration’s direct pleas for relief.

The report, titled “The Art of the Bad Deal: Trump’s Failure to Lower Prescription Drug Prices,” serves as a meticulous ledger of a promise gone adrift.

It details how the costs of 310 brand-name and 378 generic medications have increased, with a median price jump of 5.5%. Among them, 25 treatments have more than doubled in price, painting a picture of a market moving in the opposite direction of the White House’s stated goals.

The most dramatic increase reads like fiction, yet it is a distressing fact for those relying on Galzin, a treatment for a rare genetic liver disorder.

Its manufacturer, Eton Pharmaceuticals, raised the annual price by 1,555%, from $5,400 to $88,800. For perspective, the same drug costs just $1,400 in the United Kingdom.

This is one example in a long list of disparities that leave Americans paying a premium for their health.

Other life-sustaining medications followed similar, if less steep, trajectories.

The cancer drug Keytruda, made by Merck, now costs $206,000 annually in the U.S., compared with $81,000 in Germany.

Johnson & Johnson increased the price of the blood thinner Xarelto by 5%, bringing its annual cost to $7,200, while in Canada, the same prescription costs $750.

These increases unfolded even as the senator’s report noted immense profits and executive compensation at these firms.

All of this occurred against a backdrop of presidential action. In July, Trump sent letters to 17 major pharmaceutical companies, giving them 60 days to make “binding commitments” to cut prices and warning that he would “deploy every tool in our arsenal” if they refused.

The deadline has now passed, and the senator’s report concludes that the response was not in compliance but further increases.

Of the 17 companies that received the letter, 15 had already raised the price of at least one product since January, and 87 drugs saw their prices increase after the administration’s warning.

The administration, for its part, has touted its failures as victories.

Republicans shut down the government because they want to make health care more expensive.

The GOP secured Democratic votes in the Senate on the first spending bill for 2026, with cuts that would knock 15 million people off health care. Democrats are refusing to raise health insurance premiums for millions more through a Republican initiative to eliminate Obamacare subsidies.

Republicans control the House, the Senate, and the White House, but they caused the shutdown by refusing to propose a budget that could earn five Democratic votes in the Senate.

Democrats won’t support the GOP spending plan because it would kill 50,000 Americans each year by doubling insurance premiums and kicking up to 15 million people off of Medicaid.

This week, the White House announced a deal with Pfizer and the upcoming launch of a website, TrumpRx.gov, promoted as a place for Americans to buy discounted medicines directly.

The agreement, part of a “most-favored-nation” pricing push, aims to align U.S. drug costs with the lowest prices in other developed countries, but observers say it is nonsense.

Yet critical details of the Pfizer pact remain confidential, and the TrumpRx website, slated for 2026, will primarily serve patients not using insurance—a group that represents only a fraction of Americans.

Experts suggest that for many with health coverage, out-of-pocket costs at their local pharmacy may still be lower than the direct-to-consumer price online. Furthermore, the deal grants Pfizer a three-year grace period from looming pharmaceutical tariffs, a reprieve the company said provides the “certainty and stability” needed for investment.

Sanders, in his statement, drew a clear distinction between approaches.

“I agree with President Trump: It is an outrage that the American people pay, by far, the highest prices in the world for prescription drugs,” Sanders said. “But unlike Trump, I believe we need more than just press releases, polite requests to drug companies, and pilot projects. We need real action.”

The senator has pointed to his own legislation, the Prescription Drug Price Relief Act, which would cap what Americans pay for medicines at the median price in several other major countries.

He noted that although Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. initially committed to working on the bill, the agency stopped responding to follow-up requests after a single meeting.

So here we are, witnessing a peculiar chapter in the American story. It is a tale of bold pronouncements and quiet escalations, of private deals and public struggles.

The high cost of staying healthy continues to weigh heavily on millions, and as the political theater plays on, the ledger of drug prices grows longer—a sobering record of a problem that promises alone cannot solve.