President Donald Trump, in an interview with FOX News host Sean Hannity on Air Force One, retold the story of an overweight friend complaining to him that the “fat shot” costs more money in the United States. Trump originally shared the story of the “seriously overweight” CEO at a press conference in Washington on Monday.

SEAN HANNITY, FOX NEWS: I think it’s going to be huge. The fact that these drugs are mad… the creation of these drugs. I mean, these companies have to go through a very arduous process to get approval by the government. They spend billions of dollars and put aside whether or not, quote, people demonize big pharma. That’s separate and apart. However, we usually end up creating them, and then we end up paying 10 times more, which is crazy. PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: Well, they used to use that, they used to use that as a reason why we were paying 5 and 10 times more than other countries, they said, because of research and development. And I’d always say, well, what about you doing research and development for the rest of the world, too? Why are we paying for 100%? So we paid 100% for research and development, which, along with other things, believe it or not, raised the price to a point where you were 5 to 10 times higher than the rest of the world. And I told this story today. It was well-received. A friend of mine, who’s slightly overweight, to put it mildly, went to a drugstore in London, and he was able to get one of the fat shots. I call it the fat shots, the jabs, that you lose weight. HANNITY: By the way, a lot of people laugh at that. Some people get offended by it. I don’t get offended by anything. TRUMP: I’m just glad I didn’t use his name. He’s actually a very rich guy. He’s a very successful guy. HANNITY: I bet he’s glad you didn’t use his name. TRUMP: No, no, he’s very happy. He knows exactly who I was talking about. He called. He said, that was interesting. He said he was very concerned that I might use his name. It might slip. No, he doesn’t have to worry. But he went to London, and he bought this — HANNITY: Ozempic, Wegovy, one of those. TRUMP: I guess. Yeah, I’m not sure which one. He bought one of them, maybe Ozempic. He said, hey, a strange thing happened. I just bought a drug. Same company, same plant, same everything. Everything was the same. In one case, I paid, in New York, $ 1,300, and in London, I’m paying $ 88. He said, what’s going on? Now, he knew nothing. He’s a very smart guy. He’s a very rich guy. His big problem is he’s seriously overweight. But I don’t think the drug worked, okay, to be honest with you. But it makes him feel good anyway. So what happens is he just, he said to me, I paid $ 88, and in New York, I get it for $ 1,300 or something. A massive difference. And I said, that’s right. The drug laws are very screwed up, and I’m doing something about it. He said, you better, because this is crazy. He didn’t understand it, but he didn’t understand why. And now he understands why, because he watched our news conference this morning, holding his breath, but he watched his news conference. But think of it. So he goes to London, and a lot of people go shopping in nearby or even faraway countries, and they’ll go away once a month or once a week or something, if it’s a nearby country. They’ll go right across the border, and they’ll buy the same drug for one-tenth the price as we pay in the United States. And part of it is the power of the drug companies, which is a very big power. But I think a bigger part is the ruthlessness of other nations to screw the United States of America. And the European Union would be the top, because they represent a lot of countries, and they’re brutal, according to the drug companies told me this. They’re brutal in negotiations. They say, this is what we’re going to pay. We’re not going to pay any more. And if you need more, you get it from America. And so they get a low price, so we get a high price. And I ended it. And this has been going on for many years, but nobody realized that you could do it. I think I figured out the system. Very complex chain of events take place, and I ended it. And I have to say, the drug companies were great. They were great. They said, look, it’s time. They actually looked, they said, it’s time.

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