Trump says Ozempic will get much cheaper. Novo Nordisk and Eli Lilly shares tumble
Trump’s comments on Ozempic “signal aggressive posturing” in drug price negotiations, an analyst said
GewttyImages/Mads Claus Rasmussen
Shares of Novo Nordisk and Eli Lilly dropped sharply in early trading Friday after President Donald Trump said Thursday that the cost of Novo Nordisk’s Ozempic, which he called “the fat loss drug,” should be “much lower.”
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“Those are going to be $150 out of pocket," Trump said during an Oval Office news conference." Eli Lilly sells two similar drugs to Ozempic, Mounjaro and Zepbound, and all three carry a list price of about $1000 per month.
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Mehmet Oz, the administrator of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS), quickly jumped in to say talks with Novo Nordisk over the price of the popular weight loss drug are still ongoing.
“The GLP-1 category of drugs, which includes Ozempic, have not been negotiated yet,” he said, adding: “We’re going to be rolling those out over time.”
Novo Nordisk stock slid about 6% and Lilly’s fell as much as 5.1% in pre-market trading on Friday. Novo Nordisk recovered some ground to trade down about 3.5% shortly after markets opened, with Eli Lilly off about 2.6%.
Trump made his remarks during a news conference to announce a deal the White House negotiated with Merck KGaA to cut prices for its fertility treatments in exchange for a reprieve from threatened pharmaceutical tariffs. Merck will offer its IVF therapies through Trump’s recently announced direct-to-consumer platform, TrumpRX.
Trump’s comments on Ozempic “signal aggressive posturing” in the negotiations, Evan Seigerman, an analyst for BMO Capital Markets, wrote in a note to investors. But he said the new price may not fundamentally change Novo’s business, since health insurers have already negotiated discounts of 60% to 70% off the list price of the drug.
Also, Medicare is already in talks to lower prices for Ozempic and its sister Novo Nordisk drug, Wegovy, under the Inflation Reduction Act enacted by former President Joe Biden. The deadline for those negotiations is Nov. 1, with the lower prices to take effect in 2027.
In July, the Trump administration sent letters to 17 major drug manufacturers, including Novo Nordisk and Eli Lilly, demanding that they bring down the prices of prescription drugs in the U.S. to match the lowest price offered in other developed nations — known as the most-favored-nation price.