Costco, the membership warehouse club known for its $1.50 hot dogs and $2,000 gold bars, is now offering its members prescriptions to Ozempic, Wegovy, and other weight loss drugs.
Starting Tuesday, U.S. Costco members will be able to get prescriptions for these highly-sought after medications through the company’s health care partner Sesame.
Costco partnered with the health care marketplace in September to provide its members with $29 virtual primary care visits, $72 health check-ups (which include a standard lab panel), and $79 therapy sessions.
The partnership has now expanded to include Sesame’s new weight loss management program, which was established in response to high-interest expressed by Costco members.
“The No. 1 search term of Costco members seeking primary care on Sesame was around weight loss,” David Goldhill, Sesame’s co-founder and CEO, told USA Today.
Costco did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Sesame’s weight loss program will cost Costco members $179 for a three-month subscription. For non-Costco members, the subscription fee is $195.
A subscription includes a video consultation with a weight loss specialist, a prescription to a weight loss drug if needed, and nutrition and exercise guidance via unlimited messaging.
The subscription does not cover the price of the medication itself, which can cost up over $1,000 month for a month’s supply.
The weight loss drug shortage
Even if Costco members can get their hands on a prescription, getting it filled is an other challenge.
Sales of a new class of weight loss drugs known as GLP-1s have transformed Eli Lilly and Novo Nordisk into the most valuable pharmaceutical companies in the world.
Eli Lilly, the maker of Zepbound, is now the world’s ninth largest company by market capitalization, at $777 billion. But the high demand has also made it hard for some patients to have their prescriptions filled.
“Due to the unprecedented demand for these medicines, some patients may experience difficulty when trying to fill their prescription at their pharmacy,” an Eli Lilly spokesperson told Bloomberg in March.
Novo Nordisk, the maker of Ozempic, has already been limiting starter doses of Wegovy to ensure there’s enough supply for patients already on the drug. But the problem is compounding: Novo Nordisk CEO Lars Fruergaard Jørgensen said in March that the gap between demand for weight loss drugs and the supply is significant enough to take years to close.
Novo Nordisk announced in February that it has acquired three facilities from the company’s largest shareholder, Novo Holdings, for $11 billion in an effort to address a shortage of Wegovy. The deal was made in connection with Novo Holdings’ acquisition of the drug manufacturing company Catalent. Novo Nordisk said in a statement that the acquisition will increase the company’s production capacity from 2026 and onwards.