Nordisk, Lilly Weight-Loss Drug Deal: $ 245 Per Month For Cash Medicare and Medicaid Buyers !!!

The Trump Administration announced a deal with Novo Nordisk and Eli Lilly to reduce the cash price of their injectable GLP-1 receptor agonists to $ 245 per month.  The upcoming Eli Lilly pill version would price out at $ 150 per month.  This should increase the financial turmoil at Novo Nordisk and create the same at Lilly:

https://www.reuters.com/business/healthcare-pharmaceuticals/novo-lilly-shares-rise-trump-obesity-drug-deal-nears-2025-11-06/

Novo Nordisk, Lilly strike pricing deal with Trump for weight-loss drugs
By Steve Holland and Patrick Wingrove - November 6, 2025

Summary

*    Starter doses of weight‑loss pills, if approved, will cost $149 per month
*    Price for injectables would fall to $245 per month for Medicare and Medicaid
*    Analysts see potential growth for Lilly with $150 monthly cap on pill

WASHINGTON, Nov 6 (Reuters) - U.S. President Donald Trump, Eli Lilly and Novo Nordisk unveiled a deal on Thursday to slash the prices of popular GLP-1 weight‑loss drugs for the government's Medicare and Medicaid programs, as well as for cash payers.

The cuts, which the government said would reduce prices to between $149 and $350 on average for Americans, are aimed at increasing access to the treatments to millions more people. Current costs range from $500 through direct sales to a retail price of $1,000 per month.

U.S. patients currently pay by far the most for prescription medicines, often nearly three times more than in other developed nations, and Trump has been pressuring drugmakers - and Lilly and Novo in particular - to lower their prices to what patients pay elsewhere.
"It's going to equalize the world," Trump told reporters from the Oval Office, noting that Lilly and Novo would be providing their other medications to Medicaid at "most-favored-nation" prices.

Trump said the move would expand access to millions more people in the U.S. Medicare program for those aged 65 and over and the Medicaid program for low-income people, which together provide healthcare coverage for nearly half of all Americans.

NEW PRICES UNDER DEAL

Starter doses of highly anticipated weight‑loss pills being developed by Lilly and Novo, if approved, will cost $149 per month for all Medicare and Medicaid enrollees and via the White House's new direct-to-consumer TrumpRx site, the White House said. The Food and Drug Administration said both pills were under consideration for a new speedy review pathway it has implemented that can shave months from the normal process.

The announced price cuts vary and will come into effect no later than January for cash payers, by mid-2026 for Medicare patients and on an ongoing basis for Medicaid enrollees depending on when states sign up, the White House said.

For currently available injectable GLP-1s used for diabetes and other covered health issues, prices would fall to $245 per month for patients with Medicare or Medicaid.

On the government's TrumpRx website, available to all Americans, the average price of injectables and pills will start at or below $350 a month and is expected to trend downward to $245 within two years.

Lilly said the lowest dose of Zepbound will be available for $299 per month, with additional doses priced at $449 per month for cash-paying patients under the new deal.

Novo did not provide details on the prices it struck under the deal.

In Medicare, patients' co-pays will be capped at $50 a month, officials said.

COVERAGE HAD BEEN TRENDING DOWN

Dr. Sarah Ro, medical director of the University of North Carolina Health's weight management program, said coverage of weight-loss drugs had been trending in the wrong direction this year before Thursday’s announcement.

She said many of her patients had lost coverage for the GLP-1 weight-loss drugs on their employer health plans and that North Carolina’s Medicaid program recently dropped coverage for the obesity medications due to rising costs.

“That’s why this is such wonderful news,” Ro told Reuters.

A $50 monthly co-pay for Medicare patients should make a huge difference in access for seniors, she said. But she warned that a $350 monthly cash price would still put the drugs out of reach financially for many of her patients.

Novo's Wegovy and Lilly's Zepbound are the only highly effective GLP-1 weight-loss drugs sold mainly in the U.S. as weekly injections.

EXPANDED GOVERNMENT COVERAGE

The government will expand coverage for GLP-1s under the deal to overweight patients with prediabetes or heart problems, obese patients with comorbidities and severely obese patients, accounting for 10% of Medicare patients.

Currently, Medicare does not typically cover the drugs for obesity. Coverage in Medicaid, which is run by each state and jointly financed with the federal government, varies.

News of the pending announcement had pushed shares of the two companies higher as investors bet on increased patient access in government health programs. Denmark's Novo rose more than 2%, while shares of Indianapolis-based Eli Lilly were up less than 1% on Thursday.

Administration officials said the companies would get relief from tariffs as part of the deal. Lilly and Novo said they would be exempted from tariffs for three years.

Novo Nordisk has committed to an additional $10 billion investment in the United States, Trump said.

Lilly said the agreement will improve access to medications for nearly 40 million Americans covered by government insurance programs, as well as millions more who pay out-of-pocket.

The Oval Office event was interrupted when an attendee in the Oval Office collapsed before resuming after he recovered.

Deutsche Bank analysts estimated that a $150 monthly cap could unlock access for up to 15 million Americans when applied to orforglipron. About 2.7 million Americans currently take Lilly's injectable Zepbound, it said.

Pfizer and AstraZeneca previously signed new pricing agreements tied to the TrumpRx platform.