The agreement will also secure a $150 price for future weight loss pills from Novo Nordisk and Eli Lilly—at least initially.
Eli Lilly and Novo Nordisk will offer their GLP-1 drugs through President Donald Trump’s direct-to-consumer marketplace for about $350 per month. Future pills manufactured by the companies—such as Novo’s oral Wegovy or any other GLP-1 pill later approved—will be offered at $150 for the initial doses.
The deal was officially announced from the White House Thursday afternoon, with Novo CEO Maziar Mike Doustdar and Eli Lilly’s Davis Ricks in attendance. Stunningly, the live press conference was cut off as Ricks spoke when an attendee standing next to Doustdar collapsed. The feed had not returned as of publication but a White House official reportedly told reporters present that the man was with one of the companies and was “okay.”
Prior to the feed cutting off, Trump’s cabinet officials had touted the deal as a way to help millions of Americans lose weight and return to productivity.
“This is the biggest drug in our country. That’s why this is the most important of all the MFN [Most Favored Nation] announcements we’ve made,” said Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. “This is going to have the biggest impact on the American people.”
The agreement with the two GLP-1 leaders marks the third MFN drug pricing deal for the White House after Pfizer and AstraZeneca. The president in an executive order earlier this year set a framework for companies to bring their drug prices in line with what other equivalent nations pay.
In a fact sheet about the latest deal, the White House said that the price of Novo’s Ozempic and Wegovy will fall from $1,000 and $1,350 per month, respectively, to $350 for either drug via the TrumpRx platform, which is set to launch in the new year.
Lilly will offer Zepbound, which is priced at $1,086, and its forthcoming weight loss pill orforglipron at an average of $346 on the platform.
The agreement will also secure a $150 price for future weight loss pills—at least initially. The fact sheet states that Novo’s forthcoming Wegovy oral and “certain similar ‘GLP-1’ drugs in each company’s pipeline” will be priced at $150 for the initial doses.
As for Mounjaro, the diabetes version of Lilly’s tirzepatide franchise, the agreement will see the drug offered under Medicare for $245, the same cost of Zepbound, Wegovy and Ozempic in that program.
The deal also secures an expansion of coverage for the weight loss drugs under Medicare for the first time, the White House said.
“I want to thank these extraordinary CEOs for sticking with us on this, or allowing us to make this happen,” Kennedy said. “Mike Doustdar said to me, we’ve known we’ve had to do this for many years. We just haven’t been able to get over the edge. And that President Trump’s order, his executive order, was a catalyst to do something that we always knew needed to be done.”
In October, Trump promised to bring the price of GLP-1 drugs down to $150 during a press conference with Merck on a price reduction for certain fertility drugs. Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services Administrator Mehmet Oz rushed to the microphone to say that those deals had not been sealed yet.
Both Novo and Lilly have taken steps through their own direct-to-consumer platforms to lower the price of their mega-blockbuster GLP-1 drugs. Wegovy is available for $499 with manufacturer rebates or as little as $224 per month through commercial payers. GoodRx offers the drug for $499 per month. Single-dose vials of Zepbound can now be purchased at Walmart through LillyDirect for $349 per month.
Reporting earnings last week, Ricks detailed the pricing conundrum his company is facing with orforglipron, which has emerged as one of the most anticipated obesity drugs in the pipeline at the moment.
