A combined image shows a Zepbound injection pen, the Wogovy Eli Lilly weight loss drug and Wogovy boxes, made by Novo Nordisk.
Hollie Adams | Reuters
A version of this article appeared for the first time in the Healthy Bulletin returns from CNBC, which brings the latest medical care news directly to its entrance tray. Subscribe here To receive future editions.
Despite the nerves of last week investors, Eli Lilly It is far from losing your strong control in the booming weight loss market.
Here is a summary of what caused panic on Thursday if you missed it: CVS healthPharmacy Pharmacy Benefits Manager, Caremark, said it will prioritize Novo NordiskSgovy in its standard forms on July 1, which makes this weekly injection the preferred LPG-1 medication for obesity.
As part of the movement, CaMark will also drop the drug loss of Eli Lilly Zepbound of these forms, which represent dozens of millions of patients. CaMark negotiated a lower net not revealed price for Wogovy on Zepbound in its standard forms, offering savings in Novo Nordisk medication to customers who opt for those plans.
But employers and unions will finally determine how much of those savings in Wagovy are shared with the members, CVS said.
The Wegovy list price before insurance is $ 1,349 for a month of supply, while Zepbound's is $ 1,086.
That decision of one of the largest PBMs in the country caused fears of a price war in the weight loss drug market and cares that Zepbound's impulse could stop. Eli Lilly's shares fell 11% on Thursday.
But several Wall Street analysts said the sale of the sale was exaggerated.
“In our opinion, the Novo/CVS agreement does not represent the beginning of a war of obesity prices between Lilly and Novo,” BMO BMO Capital Markets analyst on a note on Thursday. He added that in discussions with companies, both Lilly and Novo emphasized that they want to expand the access of patients, not undermine each other in the price.
That can be reassuring for investors concerned that a price war can damage the profit margins. But the high list price of these weight loss medications can continue to be an important barrier for many patients, particularly those whose health plans do not cover medicines.
Eli Lilly told the firm that he is not interested in the exclusive agreements of “one of one” with PBMS, while Novo Nordisk said CVS approached the drug manufacturer on the damn agreement, according to Seigerman.
In a profit call on Thursday, Eli Lilly CEO, David Ricks, said the company has been trying to move high list prices and pay greater reimbursements to PBM for preferential coverage. Instead, Eli Lilly is trying to establish the prices of the list closer than what the plans pay for their drugs.
“We have been very vowel about trying to get away from that,” Ricks said, referring to the deep PBM refunds.
He added that Zepbound is still growing market share.
Seigerman agreed, saying that Eli Lilly “continues to act where it matters.” Zepbound and the company's diabetes drug, Mounjaro, now represent more than half of the US LP-1 recipes, overcoming the combined 46% participation of Wegovy and its combined diabetes treatment of Novo Nordisk, according to Seigerman.
That “market traction clearly demonstrates that doctors and patients prefer Zepbound” about crying, wrote Bernstein Courtney Breen in a separate note on Thursday.
It is not clear how much the change of form CVS will attract employers, especially since it is known that Zepbound is more effective in promoting the weight loss than Wagovy. Some patients in standard forms can also try to remain in their current zero recipes requesting exemptions, JPMorgan analyst Chris Schott said in a note on Thursday.
Eli Lilly Ricks also said that the CVS movement mainly affects smaller employers, who are more likely to continue with the standard Caremark forms. The largest companies that cover more patients often use personalized forms, which means that they can still decide to include Zepbound.
Anyway, the CVS-Wegovy agreement eclipsed a general general quarter for Eli Lilly.
The income and earnings of the company's first quarter increased estimates on the shooting of Zepbound and Mounjaro, which raised billions of dollars in sales for the period.
We will continue to track Eli Lilly's performance in the drug market to lose weight, so be attentive!
Do not hesitate to send any advice, suggestion, stories ideas and data to Annika in Annikakim.constantino@nbcuni.com.
The latest in medical care technology: Zocdoc launches a programming assistant with AI called Zo
The Zocdoc Medical Care Market has launched an artificial intelligence telephone assistant that can help patients program appointments using conversation language.
Zocdoc, founded in 2007, helps connect patients with doctors in the network and book appointments for care in person and virtual. The new company's assistant, called Zo, can handle “unlimited” incoming calls at any time of the day, eliminating waiting times, Zocdoc said in a statement.
The company said Zo can save staff and improve patient experiences, which can encourage them to look for the attention they need. The assistant also serves as an important step towards what the company called its goal of helping programming “everywhere, patients seek attention.”
“ZO's most exciting is that it is driven by almost two decades of experience in Zocdoc to facilitate interactions for the patient provider, understand the complex logic of health programming and integrate with a wide base of [electronic health records]”The Zocdoc CEO, Oliver Kharz, said in a statement.
Patients can ask zo questions such as: “Do you take my insurance?”, Or “Do you have offices near West Village?”, According to a pre -recorded demonstration.
Medical care organizations can implement zo without initial rates, long -term costs or commitments, and do not have to be Zocdoc Marketplace customers, the company said. Suppliers can test the wizard for $ 2 by reserved appointment, but organizations that wish to implement it on a larger scale can access discount prices.
Zocdoc said that the first ZO users have been able to solve up to 70% of all programming calls without personnel intervention. The average call lasts about two minutes and 30 seconds.
While appointment management is the first case of zo -use, Zocdoc said it is exploring other applications for the assistant, including recipes of recipes, messages and outgoing calls such as dating reminders or last -minute openings.
Read the full announcement here.
Do not hesitate to send any advice, suggestion, stories ideas and data to Ashley at Ashley.capot@nbcuni.com.