The Zepbound injection pen, Eli Lilly’s weight loss drug, is shown in New York City on December 11, 2023.
Brendan McDermid | Reuters
Eli Lily there was released a new form of weight loss drug Zepbound for about half the price of the usual monthly list to reach millions of patients without insurance coverage for popular injections, such as those with Medicare.
The move also aims to expand Zepbound’s supply in the US as demand rises, and to ensure eligible patients can safely access the real treatment as cheaper copycat versions gain traction.
The company currently offers 2.5-milligram and 5-milligram single-dose bottles of Zepbound for $399 per month and $549 per month, respectively, through its direct-to-consumer website. Patients usually start treatment with a 2.5-milligram dose, gradually increase the amount and then take a maintenance dose called to maintain weight.
Price list of Zepbound and other popular weight loss drugs, such as Novo Nordisk‘s Wegovy, about $1,000 a month before insurance and other rebates. The medication is part of a class of blockbuster drugs called GLP-1s, which mimic certain gut hormones to suppress 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 released Tuesday — and inject themselves. That’s different from single-dose autoinjector pens, which are now available for all Zepbound doses, which patients can inject directly into the skin with the click of a button.
Eli Lilly says the vials will create additional supply capacity because they are easier to manufacture than autoinjector pens.
The lower price point will benefit patients who are willing to pay for Zepbound themselves and are enrolled in Medicare or employer-sponsored health plans that currently do not cover obesity treatment, Patrik Jonsson, Eli Lilly’s president of diabetes and obesity, said in an interview.
He noted that Medicare beneficiaries are also ineligible for Eli Lilly’s savings card program for Zepbound. One program allows people with insurance for Zepbound to pay as little as $25 out of pocket, while another allows people whose insurance does not cover the drug to pay up to $550.
Having patients pay directly for single-dose vials of Zepbound also “enables transparent pricing by eliminating third-party supply chain entities,” the company added in a release.
“There will be no markup, and we believe that it is very important … that the consumer has a prediction about the price,” Jonsson said.
Eli Lilly & Co. injection pen. Zepbound was conceived in the Brooklyn area of New York on March 28, 2024.
Shelby Knowles Bloomberg Getty Images
Patients with a valid prescription can purchase single-dose vials from the new “self-pay pharmacy” section of the company’s direct-to-consumer site, LillyDirect. Eli Lilly is partnering with a third-party digital pharmacy, Gifthealth, which will process prescriptions electronically as well as package and deliver vials to eligible patients.
People can also choose to purchase syringes and needles from the Eli Lilly website and will have access to materials on how to properly administer Zepbound from the vial.
LillyDirect, which launched in January, connects people with independent telehealth companies that can prescribe certain medications if patients are eligible. The site also offers a home delivery option if the treatment provided is Eli Lilly, tapping a third-party online pharmacy to fill the prescription and ship it directly to the patient.
Eli Lilly said distributing the vials through its site would ensure patients and healthcare providers receive the “authentic” Zepbound. It builds on the company’s efforts to “help protect the public from the dangers posed by the spread of fake, counterfeit, unsafe or untested Lilly drugs,” according to the release.
During the shortage, the US Food and Drug Administration allowed compounding pharmacies to make versions of drugs that were essentially copies of brand-name drugs. Combination medications are tailor-made alternatives to brand-name drugs designed to meet specific patient needs.
But both Zepbound and Eli Lilly’s diabetes drug, Mounjaro, are under patent protection in the US.
Eli Lilly said it raised questions about what some compounding pharmacies and other clinics were selling and marketing to consumers. The company and rival Novo Nordisk have both joined forces to crack down on illegal versions of weight loss and diabetes treatments, suing health clinics, medical spas and compounding pharmacies in the US over the past year.
All doses of Zepbound are currently 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 cropped up over the past six months, according to Jonsson.
“We believe that the US population is actually a target for … untested, unapproved, unregulated anti-obesity drugs that we know are far from certain to contain these drugs,” he said. “This is also an opportunity to ensure that there is access to FDA-approved, quality-approved tirzepatide for consumers in need.”
