Washington DC - A representative of a pharmaceutical company fainted Thursday during a White House announcement on slashing the cost of weight-loss drugs, forcing President Donald Trump to suspend the event.

As one of the bosses of the two drug companies invited to announce the price deal was speaking, the man crumpled to the ground behind him.

Trump, who was seated at the time, quickly stood up and remained behind his desk while several people attended to the man, whose identity was not made public.

One of those helping him was Mehmet Oz, Trump's administrator for the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services and a medical doctor.

"The White House Medical Unit quickly jumped into action, and the gentleman is okay," White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said.

The event, which resumed about an hour later, saw Trump announce deals with pharmaceutical giants Eli Lilly and Novo Nordisk to lower the prices of some weight-loss drugs, in exchange for relief from threatened tariffs.

Both companies "have agreed to offer their most popular GLP-1 weight-loss drug," Trump said at the White House, "at drastic discounts."

The new generation of appetite-suppressing drugs using GLP-1 agonists – which include the brands Ozempic, Wegovy and Mounjaro – have exploded in popularity in recent times due to their ability to help people lose weight.

The latest move would cut the costs of starting oral doses of GLP-1s to as low as around $150 for certain groups of people, a figure that one senior US official touted as "roughly one-ninth of today's list price."