A mix image shows an injection pen of Zepbound, Eli Lilly’s weight reduction drug, and boxes of Wegovy, made by Novo Nordisk.
Hollie Adams | Reuters
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Despite last week’s investor jitters, Eli Lilly is much from losing its strong grip on the booming weight reduction market.Â
Here’s a recap of what sparked the panic on Thursday should you missed it: CVS Health‘s pharmacy profit manager Caremark said it should prioritize Novo Nordisk‘s Wegovy on its standard formularies on July 1, making that weekly injection the popular GLP-1 drug for obesity.Â
As a part of the move, Caremark may also drop Eli Lilly’s weight reduction drug Zepbound from those formularies, which represent tens of thousands and thousands of patients. Caremark negotiated an undisclosed lower net price for Wegovy over Zepbound on its standard formularies, offering savings on Novo Nordisk’s drug to clients that opt into those plans.Â
But employers and unions will ultimately determine how much of those savings on Wegovy get shared with members, CVS said.Â
Wegovy’s list price before insurance is $1,349 for a month’s supply, while Zepbound’s is $1,086.
That call by one among the nation’s largest PBMs triggered fears of a price cutting war in the load loss drug market and concerns that Zepbound’s sales momentum could stall. Shares of Eli Lilly plunged 11% on Thursday.Â
But several Wall Street analysts said the selloff was overblown.
“In our view, the Novo/CVS deal doesn’t represent the start of an obesity pricing war between Lilly & Novo,” BMO Capital Markets analyst Evan Seigerman said in a note on Thursday. He added that in discussions with the businesses, each Lilly and Novo emphasized they wish to expand patient access – not undercut one another on price.
Which may be reassuring to investors frightened that a price cutting war could hurt profit margins. However the high list price of those weight reduction drugs may remain a significant barrier for a lot of patients, particularly those whose health plans don’t cover the medications.Â
Eli Lilly told the firm it is just not fascinated by exclusive “one-of-one” deals with PBMs, while Novo Nordisk said CVS approached the drugmaker in regards to the Wegovy agreement, in keeping with Seigerman.
On an earnings call on Thursday, Eli Lilly CEO David Ricks said the corporate has been attempting to move away from setting high list prices and paying greater rebates to PBMs for preferential coverage. As an alternative, Eli Lilly is attempting to set list prices closer to what it expects the plans to pay for its drugs.
“We now have been very vocal about attempting to move away from that,” Ricks said, referring to deep PBM rebates.Â
He added that Zepbound continues to be growing market share.Â
Seigerman agreed, saying that Eli Lilly is “continuing to perform where it matters.” Zepbound and the corporate’s diabetes drug Mounjaro now make up over half of U.S. GLP-1 prescriptions, outpacing the combined 46% share of Novo Nordisk’s Wegovy and its diabetes treatment Ozempic, in keeping with Seigerman.Â
That “market-share traction clearly demonstrates that physicians and patients prefer Zepbound” over Wegovy, Bernstein analyst Courtney Breen wrote in a separate note on Thursday.Â
It’s unclear how much the CVS formulary change will appeal to employers, especially provided that Zepbound is thought to be simpler at promoting weight reduction than Wegovy. Some patients on the usual formularies may attempt to stay on their current Zepbound prescriptions by requesting exemptions, JPMorgan analyst Chris Schott said in a Thursday note.Â
Eli Lilly’s Ricks also said CVS’ move mainly affects smaller employers, who usually tend to stick to Caremark’s standard formularies. Larger corporations covering more patients often use customized formularies, meaning they will still determine to incorporate Zepbound.Â
Regardless, the CVS-Wegovy deal overshadowed an overall strong quarter for Eli Lilly.Â
The corporate’s first-quarter revenue and earnings topped estimates on skyrocketing demand for Zepbound and Mounjaro, each of which raked in billions of dollars in sales for the period.Â
We’ll proceed to trace Eli Lilly’s performance in the load loss drug market, so stay tuned!
Be at liberty to send any suggestions, suggestions, story ideas and data to Annika at annikakim.constantino@nbcuni.com.
Latest in health-care tech: Zocdoc releases AI-powered scheduling assistant called Zo
Health-care marketplace Zocdoc has launched a man-made intelligence phone assistant that may help patients schedule appointments using conversational language.
ZocDoc, founded in 2007, helps connect patients to in-network doctors and book appointments for each in person and virtual care. The corporate’s recent AI assistant, called Zo, can handle “unlimited” inbound calls at any hour of the day, eliminating hold times, ZocDoc said in a release.Â
The corporate said Zo can save staffers time and improve patients’ experiences, which might ultimately encourage them to search out the care they need. The assistant also serves as a significant step toward what the corporate called its goal of aiding scheduling “all over the place patients are in search of care.”
“What’s most fun about Zo is that it’s powered by nearly 20 years of Zocdoc’s expertise in facilitating patient-provider interactions, understanding complex healthcare scheduling logic, and integrating with a broad base of [electronic health records],” Zocdoc CEO Oliver Kharraz said in an announcement.Â
Patients can ask Zo questions like, “Do you are taking my insurance?,” or “Do you will have any offices near the West Village?,” in keeping with a pre-recorded demo.
Health-care organizations can implement Zo with none upfront fees, long-term costs or commitments, and so they do not have to be Zocdoc Marketplace customers, the corporate said. Providers can check out the assistant for $2 per booked appointment, but organizations that wish to roll it out on a bigger scale can access discounted pricing.Â
Zocdoc said early adopters of Zo have been capable of resolve as much as 70% of all scheduling calls without staff intervention. The common call lasts around two minutes and 30 seconds.Â
While appointment management is Zo’s first use case, Zocdoc said it’s exploring other applications for the assistant, including prescription refills, messaging and outbound calls like appointment reminders or last-minute openings.Â
Read the total announcement here.Â
Be at liberty to send any suggestions, suggestions, story ideas and data to Ashley at ashley.capoot@nbcuni.com.
