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Shares of Eli Lilly and Novo Nordisk dropped Friday, after President Donald Trump said his administration aims to cut the cost of brand name GLP-1 weight loss drugs to $150 per month, a fraction of their current list price.
“In London, you’d buy a certain drug for $130 and even less than that … $88 as of… a month ago. And in New York, you pay $1,300 for the same thing,” Trump said during a Thursday afternoon event about in vitro fertilization at the White House. “Instead of $1,300 you’ll be paying about $150 and they’ll be paying $150 so we’re going to pay the same thing.”
Asked by a reporter what drug he was referring to, Trump replied, “I was referring to Ozempic or … the fat loss drug.”
At that point, Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Administrator Dr. Mehmet Oz interjected and stressed that the administration has not yet agreed to GLP-1 price reductions with drugmakers.
“We have not negotiated those yet … We’re going to be rolling these out over time, the GLP category of drugs, which includes Ozempic have not been negotiated yet,” Oz said.
Just a week ago, Oz had said that the administration was “in the middle of a lot of action” with price discussions with weight loss drugmakers.
Eli Lilly shares closed 2% lower Friday, while Novo Nordisk’s stock fell 3% in U.S. trading. Meanwhile, shares of Hims & Hers Health — which sells much cheaper compounded GLP-1s — plunged more than 15%.
Eli Lilly and Novo Nordisk were among 17 of the largest U.S. pharmaceutical companies that received letters from the Trump administration following the president’s executive order on so-called most-favored nation pricing, demanding that businesses bring U.S. drug prices in line with those in other developed nations.
Pfizer and AstraZeneca have signed on to the president’s initiative, striking drug pricing deals with the administration. But Trump and Oz’s comments make it clear the administration is looking to get the weight loss drugmakers on board.
$150 GLP-1 would be cheaper than compounders
While demand for weight loss drugs has grown, price has remained an obstacle for consumers and employers.
Only about one in five large employers currently offer GLP-1s for weight loss, according to a new survey from the Kaiser Family Foundation. Of those who do, two-thirds say the high cost drugs have had a “significant” impact on their prescription drug spending.
Workers who don’t get coverage through health insurance have increasingly turned to the cash market to buy the drugs on their own.
Eli Lilly and Novo Nordisk sell discounted versions of their diabetes and weight loss medications on their direct-to-consumer sites at roughly $500 a month. Telehealth providers like Hims & Hers offer compounded versions of GLP-1s for less than half that price, anywhere between $130 to $200 per month.
If the administration could bring the cash price for popular weight loss drugs like Lilly’s Zepbound and Novo Nordisk’s Wegovy down to $150, that would be competitive with compounded options and could have a major impact on the current cash market.
