Eli Lilly sells weight loss drug Zepbound 50 percent cheaper

Eli Lilly said it has begun selling single-dose vials of its hugely popular weight-loss drug Zepbound due to soaring demand – and that the smaller doses cost 50 percent less than competing products.

The cheaper bottles are marketed to patients whose health insurance does not reimburse the cost of weight loss medication.

The drugmaker said it will sell 2.5- and 5-milligram vials – currently the two lowest doses of Zepbound – on its LillyDirect website for $399 and $549 per month's supply, respectively.

Lilly and its Danish competitor Novo Nordisk struggled to keep up with rapidly increasing demand.

According to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, Zepbound and Novo's Wegovy have faced shortages for most of this year.

Zepbound and Wegovy are currently listed as available but are still in short supply, according to the FDA.

The smaller vials will expand Lilly's offerings and help the company meet high demand as anti-obesity drugs have become trendy.

“We are very confident that we can meet the need in the U.S. market with both the auto-injectors and the vials,” Patrik Jonsson, president of cardiometabolic health at Lilly, told Reuters.

He said many patients do not need a higher dose of Zepbound than the 5-milligram vial.

The new vials are 50 percent cheaper than all other obesity drugs in the GLP-1 class, Lilly said.

According to Lilly, about 86 percent of private health insurers cover the cost of obesity drugs.

But for patients whose weight-loss medications are not covered by health insurance — such as some U.S. government Medicare programs — a month's supply of Zepbound could cost more than $1,000.

Lilly raised its full-year sales forecast by $3 billion earlier this month.

The company cited improved production and increased supplies of Zepbound and the diabetes drug Mounjaro, whose chemical name is tirzepatide – the same chemical used in Zepbound.

Drugs commonly used to treat diabetes are becoming increasingly popular for weight loss.

Weight loss drugs have even become a trend among celebrities – but some doctors warn of the dangers.

“The Hollywood trend is concerning,” Dr. Caroline Apovian, co-director of a women's hospital in Boston, told PEOPLE. “We're not talking about stars who need to lose 10 pounds. We're talking about people who are dying or will die from obesity.”

Talk show phenomenon Oprah Winfrey – famously a board member of the diet program WeightWatchers – made headlines last year when she announced that she was taking a weight-loss drug.

With post wires