Key Takeaways
- Medicare and Medicaid will cover drugs used for weight loss for the first time, offering Wegovy, Zepbound, Monjauro, and Ozempic for $50 a month co-pays.
- The White House negotiated lower prices from Eli Lilly and Novo Nordisk, which list sticker prices of the drugs for $1,000 a month or more.
- A new website, TrumpRX, will offer the medications at prices lower than those currently offered by the manufacturers for uninsured patients.
Medicare recipients will be able to buy drugs often prescribed for weight loss for as little as $50 a month under a plan announced Thursday by President Donald Trump.
The low prices for the drugs, currently not available for obesity patients on Medicare and Medicaid, are the result of a deal between the White House and drugmakers Novo Nordisk (NVO) and Eli Lilly (LLY). Under the arrangement, the companies will sell popular weight loss medications, including Wegovy, Zepbound, Mounjaro, and Ozempic, to the government for $245 a month, down from their current sticker prices of over $1,000 or more, allowing for $50 co-pays.
The drugs will also be available at a discount for anyone on TrumpRX.com, a new government website for buying drugs at wholesale prices. Customers will pay $350 a month for Ozempic and Weygovy, both of which are currently available for $499 a month if purchased directly from the manufacturers. Zepbound will be available for $346 a month, compared to $349 a month for a starter dose, and $499 a month for higher doses directly from Eli Lilly.
What This Means For Your Finances
The deal makes weight loss drugs available to people on government health insurance programs for relatively low monthly co-pays, and could greatly expand the number of people who can afford to take them.
Pill versions of the drugs, expected to be released soon, will cost $150 a month when the FDA approves them. The manufacturers have not announced pricing, so the TrumpRX prices cannot yet be compared.
In April, the White House scrapped a program started by former President Joe Biden that would have had Medicare and Medicaid cover weight loss drugs earlier this year.
The deal was the latest of several drug price agreements between the Trump administration and major manufacturers aimed at lowering costs for Americans. Experts have been skeptical that the program would affect many patients, since most drugs are purchased through insurance programs.
However, relatively cheap pills for weight loss could be a game-changer. About 15 million people could end up taking the new pills, which would be more affordable and have the advantage of not putting off needle-phobic patients, James Shin of Deutsche Bank said in a research note.
Shares of Novo Nordisk were down 2.7% Thursday afternoon, while those of Eli Lilly were up about 1%.
