Certain blockbuster weight problems drugs will be out there for as little as $149 per thirty days and extra Medicare enrollees will have entry to them under two deals introduced Thursday by the Trump administration.
The preparations with drugmakers Eli Lilly and Novo Nordisk, which President Donald Trump foreshadowed in remarks final month, are the latest in the administration’s efforts to decrease drug costs. As a part of the brand new deals, the drugmakers have additionally agreed to scale back costs for a wider array of drugs in Medicaid and the record costs when their drugs first hit the market. In trade, the drugmakers are getting breaks on tariffs on imported pharmaceutical merchandise and a dramatically expedited regulatory assessment for sure medicines.
The costs shoppers pay under the deals, nevertheless, will differ primarily based on their protection and how they buy the drugs, amongst different components. The present record worth of the drugs ranges from roughly $1,000 to $1,350, although the final word cost for shoppers is dependent upon their insurance coverage and on reductions.
Under the deal, these shopping for injectable GLP-1 drugs instantly from the businesses will pay a mean of $350 per thirty days to start, although the drugmakers have dedicated to lowering the value to round $250 over the subsequent two years, in keeping with senior administration officers. If oral GLP-1 tablets are accepted by the US Food and Drug Administration, the bottom dose will cost $149.
These costs will be out there when TrumpRx, the administration’s direct-to-consumer web site, launches in early 2026.
Novo Nordisk at present affords a direct-to-consumer possibility for these keen to pay money for Ozempic and Wegovy, at $499 a month. Lilly additionally affords cash-pay choices for its weight-loss drug Zepbound that start at $349 a month.
Eligible Medicare enrollees, in the meantime, will have a $50 copay for sure GLP-1 drugs accepted for each weight problems and diabetes. The drugmakers will scale back the costs Medicare pays to $245, which will assist pay for expanded protection of weight reduction drugs. The costs will take impact in mid-2026.
As a part of the deal, the Trump administration is broadening entry to weight problems drugs for Medicare enrollees with sure medical circumstances. Medicare, by regulation, just isn’t allowed to cowl drugs for weight reduction, however the Biden administration final yr proposed reinterpreting the statute to permit protection for the therapy of weight problems as a persistent illness.
Trump officers halted that effort. The administration famous in a name with reporters Thursday that they achieved worth reductions, which will make the enlargement cost-neutral, whereas the Biden administration didn’t embody worth cuts. The Biden proposal was estimated to cost Medicare $25 billion over a decade.
Under the brand new association, shoppers who’re obese and have prediabetes, have had a stroke or different heart problems will be eligible, as will those that have weight problems and diabetes or uncontrolled hypertension and extreme weight problems.
About 10% of Medicare enrollees could be eligible for expanded entry under the deals, senior administration officers mentioned. Medicare already covers sure weight reduction drugs if they’re additionally accepted to deal with sure medical circumstances.
Eli Lilly and Novo Nordisk have additionally agreed to supply these drugs at decrease costs to state Medicaid applications, although the timing will rely on negotiations with every state. Some 13 states lined the expensive drugs for weight reduction as of August 2024, in keeping with a KFF survey, although North Carolina lately introduced it might not accomplish that.
In his second time period, President Donald Trump revived a controversial initiative to base drug costs within the US on these in different developed international locations, so-called Most Favored Nation pricing. His present efforts give attention to getting drugmakers to voluntarily agree to scale back their costs in trade for numerous incentives.
Trump has fixated specifically on placing a deal for GLP-1 drugs which have exploded in reputation lately for serving to with weight reduction and a variety of persistent circumstances. The president has referred to them in each public and personal as the “fat-loss drug.”
“We’re going to be paying, instead of $1,300, you’ll be paying about $150,” Trump mentioned of the GLP-1 drugs throughout a mid-October occasion highlighting a separate drug worth deal, prompting Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services administrator Mehmet Oz to leap in and emphasize that the negotiations had been nonetheless ongoing.
Notably, Ozempic and Wegovy had been chosen in January for a second spherical of Medicare drug price negotiations, which is predicted to lead to financial savings for this system and, probably, for enrollees relying on their drug protection.