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A man standing near Donald Trump in the Oval Office collapsed as the president was holding a press event to announce discounts to two popular weight loss drugs. Media was rushed out of the Oval Office as figures like Dr. Mehmet Oz tried to assist the man. Fox News, NewsNation and C-SPAN were covering the event live, and NewsNation’s White House correspondent updated viewers on the situation. White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said that “a representative with one of the companies fainted. The White House Medical Unit quickly jumped into action, and the gentleman is okay. The Press Conference will resume shortly.” The man collapsed as Eli Lilly‘s David Ricks was speaking. At the event, Trump announced a White House initiative to lower drug costs, this time over innovative weight-loss treatments. Trump said that Eli Lilly and Novo Nordisk have agreed to offer their most popular GLP-1 weight loss drugs at “drastic discounts.” The drugs are Zepbound and Wegovy. The president said that the costs will fall from more than $1,000 per month to a couple or several hundred dollars. “All these drugs will be available directly to the consumer at trumprx.gov. They wanted to use my name,” Trump said. He said that Medicare and Medicaid would cover the cost for patients suffering from obesity. Fox News and NewsNation carried Trump’s remarks; other cable networks did not. Trump at one point said to Robert Kennedy Jr., his secretary of Health and Human Services, “Is there anything bad about them, Bobby? Someday, maybe it will come out, which we’ll notify you immediately.” Trump’s announcement comes after Tuesday’s off-year elections, in which exit polls showed voters showed their top concerns were the economy and affordability. Republicans got a drubbing from Democratic candidates in the handful of races across the country.
