A Zepbound injection pen, the Eli Lilly weight loss medication, is shown in New York City on December 11, 2023.
Brendan McDermid | Reuters
Eli Lilly On Tuesday, he released higher doses of his drug to lose weight in unique dose roads up to half of his usual monthly list price to reach more patients without insurance coverage for great success injection, such as those with Medicare.
It expands the company's effort to boost the US offer.
Eli Lilly now offers higher doses of Zepbound in unique dose roads through a “self -control payment pharmacy” section on its direct website to the consumer, Lillydirect, which began offering lower doses of drugs in vials in August. Eligible patients diagnosed by a medical care provider with obesity alone or together with the obstructive sleep apnea, the newly approved use of Zepbound, can pay those roads on the site.
The company sells 7.5 milligrams and 10 vials of Miligramos de Zepbound for $ 499 per month when patients fill their first recipe, and every time they are again filled within 45 days after their previous delivery. Otherwise, these two doses will cost $ 599 and $ 699, respectively.
Also on Tuesday, Eli Lilly said that the price of the two lower dose roads of Zepbound is lowering at $ 50. The 2.5 milligrams road will now cost $ 349, and the 5 milligram road will now have a price of $ 499, according to a statement.
Patients should use a syringe and a needle to make the medication of a unique dose and inject vial. This differs from the single -dose autoinjector pen, the currently available shape of all Zepbound doses, which patients can inject directly under their skin with the click of a button.
Eli Lilly has said that these vials will make more available to medicines because they are easier to manufacture than auto -in -lawctor pens, which cost approximately $ 1,000 per month before insurance.
Patients generally begin treatment with a 2.5 milligrams dose for four weeks, then gradually increase the amount per week and then take the so -called maintenance dose to maintain the weight. Eli Lilly currently does not offer the highest doses of Zepbound (12.5 milligrams and 15 milligrams) in unique dose roads.
The lowest price points for each of the unique dose roads will benefit patients who are willing to pay for zero and enroll in health plans sponsored by Medicare or sponsored by the employer who do not cover obesity treatments.
“We are, in the absence of total coverage for people who suffer from obesity such as other chronic diseases, we are only trying to fill that room and provide a more affordable solution, particularly for the population of Medicare because none of our affordable solutions can be applied,” said Patrik Jonsson, president of diabetes and obesity of Eli Lilly, in an interview.
Medicare beneficiaries are not eligible for Eli Lilly savings card programs for ZEPBOUND. Jansson said “In an ideal world,” the Trump administration will promulgate a proposed rule of the Biden Administration to Medicare cover the medications for obesity. The Secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services of the United States, Robert F. Kennedy Jr., has been skeptical of weight loss drugs.
Some people turned to aggravating pharmacies that make even cheaper copies of Zepbound because brand treatment has been too expensive and was scarcity until recent months. However, the United States food and medication administration has declared the shortage of zero, however, which will soon prevent many composite pharmacies to make those versions of the drug.
Jansson said Eli Lilly “is not competing with the price with the compounds,” and added that the company does not believe that “there is still a market for the mass compound.”
He said that Tuesday's announcement helps to ensure that patients “do not trust imitations that are not approved by FDA for safety, efficiency and quality.”
Progress of the Zepbound Vial
Eli Lilly refused to say how many patients order Lillydirect until now, but Jonsson said “absorption has been really good.”
He said that Zepbound recipes were filled through the Lillydirect paid car pharmacy, which offers the unique dose roads, they probably represent a low -to -low -to -medium digit percentage of the wider obesity market.
About 10% of the new patients in the obesity market that begin a treatment are using Zepbound through the Lillydirect Paved Pharmacy, Jonson added. He said that the launch of vials of the doses of 7.5 milligrams and 10 milligrams will be added to that number.
Lillydirect, which was launched in January 2024, connects people with an independent telesalud company that can prescribe certain medications if patients are eligible. The site also offers a housing delivery option if the prescribed treatment is Eli Lilly, taking advantage of an online third -party pharmacy to fill the recipes and send them directly to patients.
In December, the Consumer Direct Medical Attention Startup said that its platform will also offer unique dose roads from Zepbound through a new association with Eli Lilly.
