Ozempic, Wegovy Maker Announces List Price Cut By Up To 50% For 2027
This is the latest move in the ongoing war between weight loss drug rivals Novo Nordisk and Eli Lilly. Lowering the list price makes GLP-1 drugs more accessible for patients, including those who have high deductibles and those who pay coinsurance for medications.
Battling to regain its market share over rival Eli Lilly, Novo Nordisk announced Tuesday that it will reduce the list prices of its popular weight loss drug Wegovy and diabetes drugs Ozempic and Rybelsus by up to half starting in 2027. (Luhby, 2/24)
For insured patients who have to pay coinsurance — a certain percentage of the list price — when buying prescription drugs, or for those in high-deductible plans who need to pay list prices before meeting deductibles, the move will bring down out-of-pocket costs. But in the complicated world of drug pricing, Novo’s move to cut 35% to 50% off the list price of its semaglutide products, Ozempic, Rybelus, and Wegovy, to $675 a month may not mean many more payers will cover the drugs, which would allow more people to get them. That, experts say, is because what matters to employers and other payers when making coverage decisions are net prices — the actual prices they pay after rebates and discounts. (Chen, 2/24)
More on weight loss and obesity —
The FDA granted premarket approval to a gastric balloon system for short-term weight loss alongside lifestyle intervention, developer Allurion announced on Monday. The drug-free system is indicated for adults 22 to 65 years with obesity who had an unsuccessful attempt at weight loss with a prior program. By taking up room in the stomach, the device helps patients feel fuller and eat less. (Monaco, 2/24)
U.S. childhood and teen obesity rates have reached record-highs while adult obesity rates may be slowing, according to two new reports published early Wednesday by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). Researchers used measured heights and weights from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) -- run by the CDC's National Center for Health Statistics -- to track trends over more than six decades. (Kekatos and Premaratne, 2/25)
Children born to obese parents were more likely to develop a common chronic liver disease and to struggle with weight themselves, a U.K. birth cohort study found. (Robertson, 2/24)
In other pharma and tech developments —
Building up its base of medicines for lung diseases, GSK said Wednesday it was buying the privately held firm 35Pharma for $950 million in cash. The centerpiece of the deal is an experimental drug called HS235 that is set to start trials in pulmonary arterial hypertension, a form of high blood pressure in the lungs. (Joseph, 2/25)
MiniMed Group Inc., a diabetes management firm that will be separated from health-care giant Medtronic Plc, is seeking to raise as much as $784 million in an initial public offering. The Northridge, California-based firm plans to market 28 million shares for $25 to $28 each, according to its filing Tuesday with the US Securities and Exchange Commission. The IPO is expected to price March 5, an investor presentation shows. (Pernell, 2/24)
What if you could swallow a tiny robot that could diagnose, monitor and treat health issues in your gut without scheduling an uncomfortable or time-consuming outpatient procedure? Researchers at the University of Maryland’s A. James Clark School of Engineering are developing a smart capsule to revolutionize how doctors practice medicine in the intestinal tract. (Hille, 2/24)
