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Following in the steps of its rival Eli Lilly (LLY+1.86%), Novo Nordisk (NVO+3.60%), the maker of the blockbuster drug Ozempic, is cutting the price of its weight loss drug by more than half for patients that pay without insurance.
Novo Nordisk announced on Wednesday that it is now offering all doses of its popular weight loss drug Wegovy for $499 a month. That’s a more than 60% discount from the drug’s $1,349.02 list price.
The catch is the offer is only available through the company’s direct-to-consumer service, NovoCare Pharmacy. And it applies only to uninsured patients or those with commercial insurance that doesn’t cover obesity treatments.
“Novo Nordisk continues to advance solutions for patients that improve affordability and access to our medicines, whether they have insurance or not,” said Dave Moore, executive vice president of U.S. operations at Novo Nordisk, in a statement. “With NovoCare Pharmacy, patients and prescribers alike have another option that provides convenient access to all doses of real, FDA-approved Wegovy at a reduced cost in our high-quality pen.”
Eli Lilly launched a similar offer last year through its direct-to-consumer program, selling the lowest doses of its weight loss drug Zepbound starting at $399. However, the medication came in single-dose vials, requiring patients to use a traditional syringe instead of the more convenient auto-injector pen that treatment usually comes in. Since then, the company has lowered the price and expanded the program to include all dose sizes.
Novo Nordisk’s announcement comes as Food and Drug Administration (FDA) recently removed semaglutide — the active ingredient in Wegovy and Zepbound — from its drug shortage list. The move put pressure on companies that have been able to sell off-brand, or compounded, versions of the drug amid past shortages.
The FDA said that state-licensed pharmacies and physicians, known as 503A compounders, must stop making and distributing off-brand semaglutide products by April 22. Outsourcing facilities, known as 503B’s, have until May 22 to do the same.