Certain blockbuster obesity drugs can be purchased for as low as $149 per month, and the drugs will be available to more Medicare enrollees under two deals announced Thursday by the Trump administration.
The deal with pharmaceutical companies Eli Lilly and Novo Nordisk, which President Donald Trump announced in remarks last month, is the administration’s latest effort to lower drug prices. As part of the new deal, the drug companies agreed to match their prices not only to the list price when their drugs first hit the market, but also to the lowest price paid by their peers for all drugs covered by Medicaid. We will also provide primary care medications directly to consumers at discounted prices.
In return, pharmaceutical companies are suspending tariffs on imported drugs and dramatically accelerating regulatory review of certain drugs.
However, depending on the deal, the price consumers pay will depend on things like coverage and how the drug is purchased. Current list prices for drugs range from approximately $1,000 to $1,350, but the final cost to consumers varies depending on insurance and discounts.
Under the deal, people buying injectable GLP-1 drugs directly from the company will pay an average of $350 a month to start, but the drugmaker has committed to lowering the price to about $250 over the next two years, a senior administration official said. If oral GLP-1 tablets are approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA), the lowest dose will cost $149.
These prices will be available when the administration’s direct-to-consumer website, TrumpRx, launches in early 2026. But consumers will be able to see their drug costs before the end of the year, said Dr. Mehmet Oz, administrator of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services.
Novo Nordisk currently offers direct-to-consumer options for those willing to pay $499 per month in cash for Ozempic and Wegovy. Lilly also offers a cash payment option for its weight loss drug Zepbound, starting at $349 per month.
Meanwhile, eligible Medicare enrollees will have a $50 copayment for certain GLP-1 drugs approved for both obesity and diabetes. Drug companies will help expand coverage of weight loss drugs by lowering the price Medicare pays to $245. Pricing takes effect mid-2026.
As part of this deal, the Trump administration is expanding access to obesity treatment drugs for Medicare enrollees with certain diseases. Medicare cannot legally cover drugs for weight loss, but last year the Biden administration proposed reinterpreting the statute to cover obesity treatment as a chronic disease.
Trump officials halted those efforts. The Biden administration did not include price cuts, although the administration noted in a call with reporters Thursday that it would achieve price reductions to make the expansion cost-neutral. The Biden proposal was estimated to cost Medicare $25 billion over 10 years.
Under the new system, consumers who are overweight and have pre-diabetes or have had a stroke or other cardiovascular disease will be eligible, as well as those who are obese and have diabetes, uncontrolled high blood pressure and severe obesity.
About 10% of Medicare enrollees would be eligible for expanded access under the deal, a senior administration official said. Medicare already covers certain weight loss drugs approved to treat certain medical conditions.
Eli Lilly and Novo Nordisk also agreed to provide GLP-1 drugs at lower prices to state Medicaid programs. However, the timing will depend on negotiations with each state. As of August 2024, about 13 states covered the expensive weight-loss drugs, according to a KFF survey, but North Carolina recently announced it would no longer do so.
Several administration officials described the deal as helping make Americans healthier by using drugs to address obesity and reducing chronic diseases through lifestyle changes, including more exercise and healthy eating.
“This is a tool in the toolkit. It’s not a panacea,” said U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., who had long opposed obesity drugs but moderated his views after joining the administration. “This will allow many people with high-risk obesity to finally lose weight, reset, and then start working to address the root causes of their obesity.”
In his second term, Trump revived a controversial plan called so-called most-favored-nation pricing, which would set U.S. drug prices in line with those of other developed countries. His current efforts are focused on getting drug companies to voluntarily agree to lower prices in exchange for various incentives.
Trump has been particularly obsessed with closing deals for the GLP-1 drug, which has exploded in popularity in recent years for helping with weight loss and a variety of chronic conditions. The president has called it a ‘fat loss drug’ both publicly and privately.
At a separate event highlighting drug price negotiations in mid-October, President Trump said, “You’re going to pay about $150, not $1,300” for GLP-1 drugs, and “We’re going to pay,” and Oz jumped in to emphasize that negotiations were still ongoing.
Notably, Ozempic and Wegovy were selected in January for secondary Medicare drug price negotiations, which are expected to result in cost savings for the program and enrollees depending on their drug coverage.
People who purchase Zepbound multi-use pens with cash through Eli Lilly’s direct-to-consumer channels will pay $299 for the lowest dose and $449 for additional doses, the drugmaker said in a news release Thursday. The latter is currently $50 off the self-pay option and is comparable to European prices.
Patients who refill their multi-dose pens through LillyDirect will pay no more than $449.
Meanwhile, prices for Eli Lilly’s weight-loss pills, which are still awaiting FDA approval, start at $149 for the lowest dose.
Eli Lilly said that as early as April 1, Medicare enrollees will pay no more than $50 a month for Zepbound’s multi-dose pen and obesity pills.
If approved, Novo Nordisk said in a statement that it would offer Wegovy pills for $149 through direct-to-consumer channels. They announced that they would also reduce the prices of injectable drugs such as Wegovy and Ozempic for Medicare, Medicaid, and Direct-to-Consumer (DTC) patients, but did not provide details.
The company said it will update its co-pay offers for both drugs in the coming weeks.
Both weight loss pills, Novo Nordisk’s Wegovy pill and Lilly’s orforglipron named The FDA on Thursday classified the drug for expedited regulatory review. says Director’s National Priority Voucher Pilot ProgramThe goal is to shorten FDA review of promising new drugs from up to 10 months to 12 months.
Doctor and patient are watching.
Trump’s announcement came as thousands of obesity clinicians and researchers gathered in Atlanta for the annual ObesityWeek conference. When news of the deal began spreading on Thursday, some doctors said they were hopeful but wanted more details and to see what patients actually experience.
Dr. Kimberly Gudzune, chief medical officer of the American Board of Obesity Medicine Foundation, said it’s demoralizing to dangle the carrot of an effective weight loss drug in front of patients only to find out the drug isn’t affordable. She’s slowly seeing changes that could especially impact low-income people.
“I think this will open up opportunities for people who may have dismissed the idea that they could afford it, so it’s potentially a very exciting time,” Gudzune said.
Michele Rouse, program coordinator for the Healthy Eating, Activity and Weight Program at Johns Hopkins Medicine, said she lost 70 pounds in three years on Wegovy. She said she works with patients whose insurance has always covered medications for her, but for whom cost is a barrier.
When insurance doesn’t cover drugs, “they’re deflated because they’re motivated to start this journey and start this process, and then it’s almost like starting over at step one,” Rouse told ObesityWeek.
“This will be a lifesaver for many patients who are desperately trying to get to a point where they can control their weight,” she said. “It would be great for these patients. It really would be.”
CNN’s Brenda Goodman and Adam Cancryn contributed to this report.
