Novo Nordisk’s Wegovy weight loss drug has seen a meteoric rise in popularity.
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Novo Nordisk on Wednesday said it will offer its weight loss drug Wegovy for less than half of its usual price per month through a new direct-to-consumer online pharmacy.
The cash-pay offering is available to millions of patients without insurance coverage for the blockbuster injection, such as those with Medicare. It aims to make Wegovy available to more people, while also ensuring that patients use the branded medication instead of cheaper compounded copycats that exploded in popularity during a recently resolved U.S. shortage of Novo Nordisk’s drug.
The pharmacy, called NovoCare, will allow patients to pay $499 in cash per month for the weekly drug. Wegovy’s list price before insurance and other rebates is almost $1,350 per month.
The site can also ship Wegovy prescriptions directly to patients’ homes through a specialty pharmacy partner. NovoCare will also offer refill reminders and access to live support from a case manager at the company, among other patient support services.
“Patients and prescribers alike have another option that provides convenient access to all doses of real, FDA-approved Wegovy at a reduced cost in our high-quality pen,” Dave Moore, executive vice president of U.S. operations and global business development, said in a statement.
Notably, the company said in the “near future” it will extend the new savings offer for Wegovy to cash-paying patients who use traditional retail pharmacies so they can also pay a lower price.
The Danish drugmaker’s move follows a similar strategy from its main rival Eli Lilly. The two companies are fighting to dominate the market for so-called GLP-1s, which mimic certain gut hormones to suppress appetite and regulate blood sugar.
Eli Lilly in January 2024 launched its own direct-to-consumer online pharmacy, LillyDirect, to help patients access its weight loss drug Zepbound.
The website allows eligible patients to get a prescription through a telehealth provider and can provide home delivery. More recently, LillyDirect also started offering Zepbound in single-dose vials that are half or even less than its usual $1,000 monthly list price.
In recent months, the Food and Drug Administration has declared the U.S. shortages of both Zepbound and Wegovy over. That decision will prevent certain compounding pharmacies from creating unapproved versions of the injections.
NovoCare helps patients “avoid the significant risks that can be posed by the compounding marketplace, as warned by respected organizations, experts in the medical community, and the FDA,” Novo Nordisk said in a statement.
