Novo Nordisk follows Lilly into DTC obesity drug market

Novo Nordisk has launched a direct-to-consumer (DTC) option for uninsured or under-insured people wanting to access its GLP-1 agonist weight-loss drug Wegovy, cutting the drug's price in half to $499 per month for those paying out-of-pocket.

The launch of the NovoCare Pharmacy service follows the removal of semaglutide – the active ingredient in Wegovy – from the FDA's shortage list and comes a few months after rival Eli Lilly adopted a similar DTC strategy with its LillyDirect service for Zepbound (tirzepatide).

NovoCare offers home delivery of all doses of Wegovy – 0.25mg, 0.5mg, 1.0mg, 1.7mg, and 2.4mg autoinjectors – to people who are uninsured or those with commercial insurance that does not cover weight loss medications, although, the company notes that 90% of patients taking the drug are insured with a co-pay of between $0 and $25 per month.

Novo Nordisk also said that it would be updating the price of the drug "so that cash-paying patients who use traditional retail pharmacies will also benefit from this lower price," and confirmed that all dose strengths of Wegovy now meet or exceed "current and projected US demand."

Lilly recently extended the range of Zepbound products available through LillyDirect with the addition of high-dose vials at $499 and reduced the price of the lowest-dose 2.5mg vial – the starting dose – to $349 per month. At the moment, only the vial formulations are available through LillyDirect, so Novo Nordisk may have claimed a competitive edge by making its autoinjector range available DTC.

Both Novo Nordisk and Lilly are responding to the competition to their obesity products from compounding pharmacies, which have been able to offer discounted versions of semaglutide and tirzepatide under FDA regulations applying to medicines deemed to be in short supply.

With both drugs now officially off the shortage list, the clock has started ticking towards the end of that dispensation. However, compounders are suing the FDA in an attempt to reverse its decisions.

For tirzepatide, the legal right to compound came to an end on 18th February for state-licensed pharmacy or physician compounders, while outsourcing facilities will have to stop by 19th March. For semaglutide, the corresponding dates are 22nd April and 22nd May, respectively.

Meanwhile, both companies have warned about the risks associated with sourcing the drugs from other sources, particularly rogue online pharmacies that may supply counterfeit versions with no active ingredient, the wrong active ingredient, and/or harmful contaminants.

In a statement, Novo Nordisk said that, "amidst the dangers of fake or illegitimate compounded 'semaglutide', NovoCare Pharmacy offers reliable access to authentic, FDA-approved Wegovy in [its] once-weekly, single-dose pen."