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Eli Lilly launches version of weight loss drug Zepbound at a cheaper price

Patrick Wingrove
| Reuters

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Eli Lilly said the company has begun selling vials containing the smallest starting dose of its popular weight-loss drug Zepbound for $399 for a month on its direct-to-consumer website in the United States to increase supply to the market.

Zepbound is normally sold in the form of auto-injection pens. With the ampoules, Lilly saves this step and can get the drug to patients more quickly.

The 2.5-milligram and 5-milligram vials – the lowest doses of the drug – will cost $399 and $549, respectively, for a month's supply on the LillyDirect website, the company said. The company previously said patients could get the drug in a pen through LillyDirect for as little as $550.

Lilly said the prices were in line with its current offering and 50 percent cheaper than the list prices of competitors, including Wegovy from Danish rival Novo Nordisk.

Lilly and Novo have struggled to produce enough of their obesity drugs to meet rising demand. But last quarter, Lilly increased production while Novo failed to meet expectations. The company raised its full-year sales forecast by $3 billion.

Lilly's drugs are now listed as available by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, but they have not yet disappeared from the FDA's official shortage list, where they were for most of the year.

Citi analyst Daniel Grosslight said the move would ease the supply shortage of auto-injection pens. He said Lilly's offer would take market share away from companies that offer drugs from pharmacies that make drugs themselves, which is allowed in the U.S. when drugs are in short supply.

The lowest dose of Novos Wegovy – used to treat new patients – continues to be listed as in short supply.

Patrik Jonsson, Lilly's president of cardiometabolic health, said the launch of these vials will significantly increase the supply of Zepbound in the U.S.

“We are very confident that we can meet the demand in the US market with the auto-injectors and the ampoules,” he said, adding that for a large proportion of patients, doses of Zepbound higher than 5 mg are not possible during treatment.

According to Lilly, about 86 percent of private health insurance plans cover obesity drugs. Patients who do not cover weight loss costs, such as those in the U.S. government's Medicare health insurance plan for older Americans, may have to pay more than $1,000 out of pocket for a month's supply of Zepbound.

Lilly has already launched vials of the product in other countries, including Australia, Canada and Poland, Jonsson said.

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