Wegovy injection pens arranged in Waterbury, Vermont, US, on Monday, April 28, 2025.
Shelby Knowles | Bloomberg | Getty Images
Only half of health insurer Cigna‘s clients currently cover the favored GLP-1 weight reduction drugs Wegovy and Zepbound due to their high costs. But the corporate’s pharmacy advantages unit Evernorth has reached a cope with drug makers Ely Lilly and Novo Nordisk which it said will bring prices down for employers and their employees.
“This solution is basically focused towards clients that are not covering it today, and what it allows us to do is one, to bring it on at a reduced price for the plan sponsor, but in addition capping out the members’ cost at $200,” per thirty days said Harold Carter, Evernorth senior vice chairman of pharmacy relations.
Lots of Evernorth’s clients currently offer the drugs to employees with co-pays as little as $25 per thirty days. For individuals who have been hesitant to cover the medications due to cost, capping worker out-of-pocket costs at $200 would amount to lower than half the value consumers pay in money without insurance in the event that they bought the drug through Ely Lilly or Novo Nordisk’s direct-to-consumer web sites.  Â
The brand new deal may also include a simplified pre-authorization process for the drugs, and patients will have the option to access the drugs for a similar price across retail pharmacies, or through Evernorth home delivery service, the corporate said.
Those recent services and discounts may also be provided for Evernorth clients already offering the load loss drugs.
“Clients that cover weight reduction today, we’re expecting that they’ll see, , as much as almost 20% a discount [in] their costs … with this updated arrangement that we have been capable of get with Lily and Novo, ” said Carter, adding that Evernorth was capable of recuperate pricing while maintaining coverage for each drugs.
Last month, CVS Caremark announced that it had struck a deal to make Novo’s Wegovy its primary weight reduction drug starting within the second half of the yr, which might mean coverage for Lilly’s Zepbound would now not be preferred.
Novo Nordisk wouldn’t comment on the brand new pharmacy advantages arrangements. But a spokesperson for Eli Lilly told CNBC, “Lilly will proceed to work with those in health care, government and the industry to search out creative solutions that help individuals with obesity access Zepbound.”
Net prices coming down
While Cigna wouldn’t discuss the actual discounts reached under the brand new Evernorth arrangement, analysts say large employers and other insurers have gotten between 30% to 50% below the drugs’ list price.
While Novo’s Wegovy lists for $1,350 per thirty days, in March the typical net price for the drug was $616 based on an evaluation by the Institute for Clinical and Economic Review. For Lilly’s Zepbound, the list price is roughly $1,100 per thirty days, while the online price is $725.
These recent arrangements by Evernorth and CVS Caremark could bring those net prices even lower for employers, just as the federal government is negotiating Medicare discounts for Novo Nordisk’s Ozempic and Wegovy under the Inflation Reduction Act.
Those Medicare negotiated rates will take effect in 2027 — effectively making Novo Nordisk’s products the popular drugs in this system. That might see prices come down even further, said Ben Ippolito, senior fellow in health economics on the American Enterprise Institute.
“Once the drug is negotiated, it should be featured on formulary in Medicare. And in order that signifies that in the event you’re Eli Lilly, you may have to try to compete within the Medicare market with a product that is going to be on formulary and have an artificially cheaper price. And so it will filter through to what Eli Lilly does,” Ippolito said.
Evernorth’s recent weight reduction pricing program will begin on July 1, as employers begin to make decisions about coverage for next yr’s plans.
— CNBC’s Angelica Peebles contributed to this report.
