An injection pen of Zepbound, Eli Lilly’s weight reduction drug, is displayed in Recent York City on Dec. 11, 2023.
Brendan McDermid | Reuters
Eli Lilly on Tuesday released higher doses of its weight reduction drug Zepbound in single-dose vials at as much as half its usual monthly list price to succeed in more patients without insurance coverage for the blockbuster injection, similar to those with Medicare.
It expands the corporate’s effort to spice up the U.S. supply of Zepbound as demand soars, and to make sure eligible patients are safely accessing the actual treatment as an alternative of cheaper compounded versions.
Eli Lilly is now offering higher doses of Zepbound in single-dose vials through a “self-pay pharmacy” section on its direct-to-consumer website, LillyDirect, which began offering lower doses of the drug in vials in August. Eligible patients diagnosed by a health-care provider with obesity alone or together with obstructive sleep apnea — Zepbound’s newly approved use — will pay for those vials themselves on the positioning.
The corporate is selling 7.5 milligram and 10 milligram vials of Zepbound for $499 per 30 days when patients fill their first prescription, and any time they refill inside 45 days of their previous delivery. Otherwise, those two doses will cost $599 and $699, respectively.
Also on Tuesday, Eli Lilly said it’s lowering the value of each of the lower-dose vials of Zepbound by $50. The two.5 milligram vial will now cost $349, and the 5 milligram vial will now be priced at $499, in keeping with a release.
Patients must use a syringe and needle to attract up the drugs from a single-dose vial and inject themselves. That differs from single-dose autoinjector pens, the currently available type of all Zepbound doses, which patients can directly inject under their skin with the press of a button.
Eli Lilly has said those vials will make more of the medication available because they’re easier to fabricate than autoinjector pens, which cost roughly $1,000 per 30 days before insurance.
Patients typically start treatment with a 2.5 milligram dose for 4 weeks, then step by step increase the quantity per week and later take so-called maintenance doses to maintain the burden off. Eli Lilly doesn’t currently offer the highest doses of Zepbound — 12.5 milligrams and 15 milligrams — in single-dose vials.
The cheaper price points for every of the single-dose vials will profit patients who’re willing to pay for Zepbound themselves and are enrolled in Medicare or employer-sponsored health plans that don’t cover obesity treatments.
“We’re, within the absence of full coverage for people affected by obesity like other chronic diseases, we are only attempting to fill that room and supply a more cost-effective solution, particularly for the Medicare population because none of our affordability solutions will be applied to them,” said Patrik Jonsson, president of Eli Lilly diabetes and obesity, in an interview.
Medicare beneficiaries are also not eligible for Eli Lilly’s savings card programs for Zepbound. Jonsson said “in a super world,” the Trump administration will enact a proposed rule from the Biden administration to have Medicare cover obesity medications. Secretary of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has been skeptical of weight reduction drugs.
Some people turned to compounding pharmacies that make even cheaper copies of Zepbound since the branded treatment has been too costly and was in shortage until recent months. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has since declared the Zepbound shortage over, nonetheless, which can soon bar many compounding pharmacies from making those versions of the drug.
Jonsson said Eli Lilly is “not price competing with the compounders,” adding that the corporate doesn’t consider “there remains to be a marketplace for the mass compounding anymore.”
He said Tuesday’s announcement helps to be sure that patients “don’t depend on knockoffs that aren’t approved by the FDA for safety, efficacy and quality.”
Progress of Zepbound vial launch
Eli Lilly declined to say what number of patients are ordering vials from LillyDirect up to now, but Jonsson said “the uptake has been really good.”
He said Zepbound prescriptions filled through LillyDirect’s self-pay pharmacy, which offers the single-dose vials, likely account for a low- to mid-single-digit percentage of the broader obesity market.
Around 10% of recent patients within the obesity market who start a treatment are using Zepbound through LillyDirect’s self-pay pharmacy, Jonsson added. He said launching vials of the 7.5 milligram and 10 milligram doses will add to that number.
LillyDirect, which launched in January 2024, connects individuals with an independent telehealth company that may prescribe certain drugs if the patients are eligible. The positioning also offers a home-delivery option if the prescribed treatment is Eli Lilly’s, tapping a third-party online pharmacy to fill prescriptions and send them on to patients.
In December, direct-to-consumer health-care startup Ro said its platform can even offer single-dose vials of Zepbound through a latest partnership with Eli Lilly.
