Eli Lilly A new form of the weight-loss drug Zepbound was launched Tuesday for about half the usual monthly list price to reach millions of patients without insurance coverage for the popular injection, such as those with Medicare.
The move also aims to expand Zepbound’s supply in the US as demand soars and ensure eligible patients have safe access to the real treatment as cheaper copycat versions gain traction.
The company is now offering 2.5 milligram and 5 milligram single-dose vials of Zepbound for $399 per month and $549 per month, respectively, through its direct-to-consumer website. Patients usually start treatment with a dose of 2.5 milligrams, gradually increase the amount and later receive so-called maintenance doses to maintain their weight.
The list prices of Zepbound and other popular slimming drugs such as Novo Nordisk‘s Wegovy, it’s about $1,000 a month before insurance and other discounts. These treatments are part of a large class of drugs called GLP-1s, which mimic certain gut hormones to reduce a person’s appetite and regulate blood sugar.
Patients must use a syringe and needle to take the drug from a single-dose vial — Eli Lilly’s version of Zepbound comes out Tuesday — and they inject. This is different from a single dose auto-injection penthe currently available all-dose form of Zepbound, which patients can inject directly under their skin with the push of a button.
Eli Lilly said the vials would creating additional supply capacity because they are easier to manufacture than auto-injector 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, said Patrik Jonsson, Eli Lilly’s president of diabetes and obesity, in an interview.
He 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.
The company offers another to patients whose commercial insurance does not cover the drug. Patients currently enrolled in this program can continue to pay up to $550 per month for Zepbound through the end of the year.
But starting Tuesday, the lowest cost of the drug for new patients joining that program will increase to $650 per month, according to modernize on the company’s website. This price increase “will help maintain the viability of the program as coverage for Zepbound improves,” an Eli Lilly spokesman said in a statement Tuesday.
Direct patient payment for Zepbound single-dose vials “also enables transparent pricing by removing third-party supply chain entities,” the company added in a statement.
“There will be no markups, and we think it’s extremely important … that consumers have that predictability in terms of prices,” Jonsson said.
An Eli Lilly & Co. injection pen. Zepbound was placed in the borough of Brooklyn, New York on March 28, 2024.
Shelby Knowles | Bloomberg | Getty Images
Patients with a valid prescription can purchase the single-dose vials from a new “self-pay pharmacy” section on the company’s direct-to-consumer website, LillyDirect. Eli Lilly partners with a third-party digital pharmacy, Gifthealthwhich will electronically process prescriptions as well as package and ship vials to eligible patients.
People can also choose to buy syringes and needles from Eli Lilly’s 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 drugs if patients are eligible. The site also offers a home delivery option if the prescribed treatment is from Eli Lilly, clicking through to 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. It builds on the company’s efforts to “help protect the public from the dangers posed by the proliferation of fake, counterfeit, unsafe or untested Lilly’s drugs,” according to the statement.
During shortages, the US Food and Drug Administration allows compounding pharmacies to produce versions of drugs that are essentially copies of brand-name drugs. Compounded medicines are customized alternatives to brand-name medicines designed to meet the needs of a particular patient.
But both Zepbound and Eli Lilly’s diabetes drug Mounjaro are covered by a patent in the US. The company also does not supply the active ingredient of these two drugs, tirzepatide, to outside groups.
Eli Lilly has said it raises questions about what some pharmacies and other clinics are selling and advertising to consumers. The company and rival Novo Nordisk have stepped in to combat illegal versions of the weight-loss and diabetes treatments, suing wellness clinics, medical spas and pharmacies across the US over the past year.
All doses of Zepbound are now listed as available in the FDA’s drug shortage database. But thousands of online platforms offering compounded versions of weight-loss drugs from Novo Nordisk and Eli Lilly have popped up in the past six months, according to Jonsson.
“We believe that the US population is actually a target for … untested, unapproved, unregulated anti-obesity drugs, which we know are far from always containing the medicine they’re supposed to,” he said. “This is also an opportunity to ensure that there is access to FDA-approved, quality tirzepatide for consumers in need.”
