Eli Lilly launches new, cheaper form of weight-loss drug

Eli Lilly On Tuesday it launched a new form of its weight-loss drug, Zepbound, for about half its usual monthly list price to reach millions of patients who don't have insurance coverage for the popular shot, such as those on Medicare.

The move is also intended to expand Zepbound's supply in the US as demand soars, and to ensure eligible patients safely access the real treatment as cheaper copycat versions gain ground.

The company now offers single-dose vials of Zepbound in 2.5 and 5 milligram doses for $399 and $549 per month, respectively, through its direct-to-consumer website. Patients typically start treatment at a 2.5-milligram dose, gradually increase the amount, and then take so-called maintenance doses to keep the weight off.

List prices for Zepbound and other popular weight loss drugs such as New NordiskWegovy treatments cost about $1,000 a month before insurance and other reimbursements. These treatments are part of a blockbuster class of drugs called GLP-1, which mimic certain gut hormones to reduce a person’s appetite and regulate blood sugar.

Patients need to use a syringe and needle to draw the drug out of a single-dose vial (Eli Lilly’s version of Zepbound is launching Tuesday) and inject it themselves. This differs from single-dose autoinjector pens, the currently available form of all Zepbound doses, which patients can inject directly under the skin with the click of a button.

Eli Lilly has said the vials will create additional supply capacity because they are easier to manufacture than autoinjector pens.

The lower prices will benefit patients who are willing to pay for Zepbound themselves and are enrolled in Medicare or employer-sponsored health plans that do not currently cover obesity treatments, Patrik Jonsson, president of Eli Lilly diabetes and obesity, said in an interview.

She noted that Medicare beneficiaries are also not eligible for Eli Lilly's savings card programs for Zepbound. One program allows people with insurance coverage for Zepbound to pay as little as $25 out of pocket, while another allows those whose insurance doesn't cover the drug to pay as little as $550.

Having patients pay directly for Zepbound single-dose vials also “allows for transparent pricing by eliminating third-party supply chain entities,” the company added in a statement.

“There will be no price premiums and we think that's very important… that consumers have this predictability in terms of pricing,” Jonsson said.

Patients with a valid prescription can purchase the single-dose vials in a new “self-pay pharmacy” section on the company’s direct-to-consumer sales site, LillyDirect. Eli Lilly is partnering with a third-party digital pharmacy, Gifthealth, which will process prescriptions electronically, as well as package and ship the vials to eligible patients.

People can also choose to purchase syringes and needles on the Eli Lilly website and will have access to materials on how to properly administer Zepbound from a vial.

LillyDirect, which launched in January, connects people with an independent telehealth company that can prescribe certain medications if patients are eligible. The site also offers a home delivery option if the prescribed treatment is from Eli Lilly, using a third-party online pharmacy to fill prescriptions and ship them directly to patients.

Eli Lilly said in a statement that distributing the vials through the site will ensure that patients and healthcare providers receive “genuine” Zepbound. This adds to the company’s efforts to “help protect the public from the dangers posed by the proliferation of counterfeit, unsafe or untested imitations of Lilly medicines,” according to the statement.

During shortage periods, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration allows compounding pharmacies to make versions of drugs that are essentially copies of brand-name drugs. Compounding drugs are customized alternatives to brand-name drugs designed to meet a patient's specific needs.

But both Zepbound and Eli Lilly's diabetes drug Mounjaro are under patent protection in the United States. The company also does not supply the active ingredient in those two drugs, tirzepatide, to outside groups.

Eli Lilly has said this raises questions about what some compounding pharmacies and other clinics are selling and marketing to consumers. The company and rival Novo Nordisk have stepped in to address illicit versions of their weight-loss and diabetes treatments, suing wellness clinics, medical spas and compounding pharmacies across the United States over the past year.

All doses of Zepbound are now listed as available in the FDA’s drug shortage database. Still, thousands of online platforms offering compounded versions of weight-loss drugs from Novo Nordisk and Eli Lilly have sprung up in the past six months, according to Jonsson.

“We believe that the American population is actually a target for… untested, unapproved, unregulated obesity drugs that we know are far from always containing the drug that they are supposed to contain,” he said. “This is also an opportunity to ensure that there is access to FDA-approved, quality-approved tirzepatide for consumers who need it.”