Facing elevated competitors within the weight loss market and intense strain from President Donald Trump, Novo Nordisk introduced Monday that it’s reducing prices for its blockbuster weight problems and diabetes drugs for cash-paying sufferers.
The transfer is the newest step in drugmakers’ efforts to supply reductions to Americans keen to purchase drugs immediately from them and forgo insurance coverage. Also, it’s one other manner Novo Nordisk is looking for to fend off compounding pharmacies which might be slicing into the producer’s gross sales by providing less-expensive variations of the super-popular GLP-1 drugs.
Novo Nordisk is now providing the primary two month-to-month doses of Wegovy and Ozempic for $199, with the low cost expiring on the finish of March. It applies to the 2 lowest doses of the remedy.
Also, the drugmaker is lowering the prices of Wegovy and Ozempic for different self-pay sufferers to $349 a month, down from $499 a month. (The 2-milligram dose of Ozempic will proceed to price $499.)
The reductions can be found for self-paying prospects who use the corporate’s direct-to-consumer channels and thru Novo Nordisk’s numerous companions, together with Costco, GoodRx and Weight Watchers, along with greater than 70,000 retail pharmacies.
Novo Nordisk’s announcement comes shortly after the drugmaker, together with rival Eli Lilly, introduced a major deal with the Trump administration that can open their entry to the Medicare and Medicaid markets in trade for lowering their prices.
Under the settlement, customers shopping for injectable GLP-1 drugs immediately from the businesses will pay a mean of $350 per 30 days to begin, although the drugmakers have dedicated to lowering the worth to about $250 over the subsequent two years. If oral GLP-1 tablets are permitted by the US Food and Drug Administration, the bottom dose will price $149.
These prices can be obtainable when TrumpRx, the administration’s direct-to-consumer on-line platform, launches in early 2026.
Novo Nordisk is relying on its self-pay channel to assist enhance gross sales within the US, in addition to overseas. The cash market accounts for about 10% of complete Wegovy prescriptions within the US, stated Dave Moore, govt vp of US operations.
“There’s a lot of interest in direct pay, self-pay,” Moore advised NCS. “We know that’s an interest of people living with obesity.”
Roughly 1 in 8 adults say they at the moment use a GLP-1 drug similar to Ozempic or Wegovy to lose weight or deal with a continual situation, based on a KFF Health Tracking Poll launched Friday. About 1 / 4 of individuals who have used the drugs and have medical insurance stated they paid the complete price themselves.
Among those who have ever used GLP-1 drugs, price is among the many mostly cited causes for stopping, the ballot discovered.
Although insurers broadly cowl Ozempic as a remedy for diabetes, protection of Wegovy for weight loss is far spottier, partly due to the drug’s worth. Wegovy’s checklist worth is $1,349 a month, though those with insurance coverage protection sometimes pay far much less.
Novo Nordisk additionally launched its direct-to-consumer pharmacy this 12 months, providing Wegovy for $499 a month. In August, it started selling Ozempic at half-price, $499, to sufferers who pay cash.
Eli Lilly has additionally slashed the price of its GLP-1 weight loss drug, Zepbound, for self-pay sufferers.