Boxes of Ozempic and Wegovy manufactured by Novo Nordisk in a London pharmacy on March 8, 2024.
Hollie Adams | Reuters
Nordisk On Monday it said it had reduced direct-to-consumer prices for its blockbuster weight-loss drug Wegovy and its diabetes counterpart Ozempic, adding to efforts by the company and the Trump administration to make the treatments more accessible.
The Danish drugmaker is reducing the price of drugs for cash-paying patients to $349 a month from $499 a month. But Novo Nordisk said the cash cost for the highest dose of Ozempic will remain $499 a month.
Also on Monday, Novo Nordisk launched a temporary introductory offer, which will allow new cash-paying patients to access the two lowest doses of Wegovy and Ozempic for $199 per month for the first two months of treatment. After that period, people move to the new standard monthly direct-to-consumer price. The company's introductory offer ends on March 31.
The announcements come days after President Donald Trump reached deals with Novo Nordisk and its main rival. Eli Lilly to make its popular GLP-1 medications easier for Americans to access and afford. Those deals will involve reducing the prices the government pays for drugs, introducing Medicare coverage of obesity drugs for the first time for certain patients and offering discounted drugs on the government's new direct-to-consumer website launching in January called TrumpRx.
“Our new savings offers provide an immediate impact, generating greater cost savings for those who currently do not have coverage or choose to pay on their own,” Dave Moore, head of Novo Nordisk's U.S. operations, said in a statement. “It is part of a broader strategy to expand access that includes building relationships with telehealth providers and major retailers, expanding coverage and working with the Administration to reduce costs for people living with chronic diseases like obesity.”
The Trump administration said initial doses of existing shots like Wegovy and Zepbound, Eli Lilly's weight-loss drug, will be $350 a month on TrumpRx, but will “trend downward” to $245 a month over a two-year period.
The day the deals were announced, Eli Lilly said it would reduce prices by $50 on its own direct-to-consumer platform, LillyDirect, which already offers Zepbound at a discount to patients who pay cash. Zepbound's multidose pen will be available for $299 per month for the lowest dose, with additional doses priced up to $449 per month.
Novo Nordisk's new cash offerings are available through Wegovy.com or Ozempic.com, the company's direct-to-consumer pharmacy, NovoCare, and other participating organizations and telehealth providers that work directly with the drugmaker, including costco, GoodRxWeightWatchers, Ro, LifeMD and eMed.
