March 4 (Reuters) – Johnson & Johnson has launched a website to sell some of its drugs directly to U.S. patients who either don’t have insurance or pay for their drugs out of pocket.
The website, called J&J Direct, lists three drugs: diabetes treatments Invokana and Invokamet and blood thinner Xarelto.
The company committed to improving direct access to its drugs as part of the agreement it reached in January with U.S. President Donald Trump’s administration to cut prices in exchange for exemptions from tariffs.
It also committed last year to investing $55 billion in the U.S. over four years.
The Trump administration has reached agreements with 16 pharmaceutical companies to cut the prices of their medicines for the government’s Medicaid program and for cash-paying consumers, aiming to bring U.S. drug costs in line with those in other wealthy countries.
Several drugmakers, including Pfizer and Eli Lilly, have already launched their own direct-to-consumer websites.
The U.S. government has also launched TrumpRx.gov, a website with discounted prescription medicines as part of its efforts to lower drug prices. Johnson & Johnson is not currently selling any medicines on TrumpRx.gov, but the company has agreed to participate.
(Reporting by Michael Erman; Editing by Lisa Shumaker)
