Lilly unveils employer scheme for weight-loss drug Zepbound
Eli Lilly has added another channel to its selling options for obesity therapy Zepbound in the US, launching a programme directed at employers.
The Employer Connect platform is designed to help companies connect with independent organisations operating weight-loss programmes that can help manage obesity treatment benefits and costs.
Lilly will make its Zepbound KwikPen (tirzepatide) – which delivers four weekly injections in one device – available through the programme at a cost of $449 across all doses for an individual patient, with the potential to reduce the price – via cost-sharing – when companies have multiple employees in the programme.
The aim is to give employers more flexibility in providing weight-loss cover, reducing out-of-pocket costs for staff and making coverage more cost-effective, for example by bundling in other services like in-person or virtual clinical care and behaviour-change support and providing access to a nationwide network of pharmacies.
"For far too many people living with obesity, starting or staying on treatment isn't just a medical decision, it's an access decision driven by coverage and cost," said Ilya Yuffa, president of Lilly USA.
"To address these challenges, we're building an employer program that connects employers to a range of independent program administrators and cost-sharing solutions – from those providing holistic obesity management to those focused on benefits administration – so their employees can access prescribed treatment at reduced out-of-pocket costs," he added.
The company estimates that around half of people with commercial health insurance in the US struggle to start or stay on weight-loss medicines due to access obstacles.
According to a report published last October by the Employment Benefit Research Institute, around 55% of employers in the US cover GLP-1-based medicines for type 2 diabetes (T2D), and 36% cover them for both diabetes and weight loss.
The initiative builds on Lilly's LillyDirect direct-to-consumer (DTC) sales channel for cash-paying patients and a raft of partnerships with telehealth companies that have accelerated the uptake of Zepbound, which it claims was the most prescribed drug in the category last year based on IQVIA prescription data.
New pricing deals with the Trump administration should also make it easier to access Zepbound and other weight-loss therapies via the federal Medicare and Medicaid insurance programmes.
Current organisations signed up to the programme include GoodRx, Mark Cuban's Cost Plus Drug Company, and Teladoc, and Lilly expects to add other partners to Employer Connect in the coming months.
