Following Novo Nordisk’s price cuts for its own GLP-1 medicines, Eli Lilly is offering discounts for the obesity drug purchased through LillyDirect. Both pharmas recently struck a deal with the White House for cheaper prices via the yet-to-be-launched TrumpRx.
Eli Lilly is once again cutting the price of its blockbuster obesity drug Zepbound, adding another log to the GLP-1 pricing fire.
The new price is for Zepbound single-dose vials purchased through Lilly’s direct-to-consumer (DTC) platform LillyDirect, according to the company’s announcement Monday. The change brings the cost of a one-month supply of the drug’s lowest dose (2.5 mg)—recommended only as a starter dose—from $349 to $299, while the 5-mg dose goes from $499 per month to $399. All other doses—7.5, 10, 12.5 and 15 mg—will go from $499 to $449 per month.
The move follows obesity rival Novo Nordisk’s Nov. 17 announcement that it will offer patients a self-pay option, providing access to its own GLP1 drugs Wegovy and Ozempic for $199 per month.
Writing to investors Monday morning, BMO Capital Markets analysts wrote that “although Lilly is reducing the prices for cash pay Zepbound, we still see the product priced at a premium to Novo’s cash pay Wegovy.”
The pricing games come after both Lilly and Novo struck deals with the U.S. federal government to offer their GLP-1 medicines at a discount through Medicare and through a DTC platform called TrumpRx, which has not yet launched.
Novo’s drugs—Ozempic for diabetes and Wegovy for obesity—had their prices cut from $1,000 and $1,350 per month, respectively, to $350 per month when purchased through TrumpRx, while Lilly’s drugs Zepbound and orfoglipron will be available at an “average of $346.”
Separately, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) last week announced the latest round of Inflation Reduction Act price negotiations, which will bring the cost of Novo’s Ozempic and Wegovy down 71% from list price starting on Jan. 1, 2027.
Analysts at BMO Capital Markets, writing to investors when the pricing negotiations were announced, said, “We reiterate that the important comparison remains the difference between the product’s newly discounted price and the product’s ultimate net price, including rebates,” instead of focusing on list prices.
