Eli Lilly has slashed the prices of starter doses of Zepbound to “significantly” expand the supply of the popular weight loss drug amid high demand in the United States.
Single-dose vials containing 2.5 and 5 mg of tirzepatide, the active ingredient in Zepbound, are now available, but only for patients who opt to pay out-of-pocket and through LillyDirect, the company’s telehealth service.
The lower-cost offerings will not come in injectable, pre-filled pens. Instead, patients will need a syringe to draw out each dose of the medicine, but will pay hundreds of dollars less.
“These new vials not only help us meet the high demand for our obesity medicine, but also broaden access for patients seeking a safe and effective treatment option,” Patrik Jonsson, president of Lilly Cardiometabolic Health and Lilly USA, said Tuesday in a news release.
Zepbound, which works by activating receptors of hormones secreted from the intestine to reduce appetite and food intake, is indicated for adults who are considered obese, or have a body mass index (BMI) of 30 or higher; or those who are overweight (BMI 27 or higher) and who also have another weight-related condition, such as high blood pressure, Type 2 diabetes or high cholesterol.
Its approval by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration in late 2023 came two years after the agency approved a higher-dose version of Novo Nordisk’s diabetes medication Ozempic to be prescribed for weight loss under the brand name Wegovy — giving way to a massive new wave of chronic weight management.
As weight-loss drugs exploded in popularity across the nation , shortages have led patients to purchase compounded versions of these medications, made with similar or related substances and often at a fraction of the cost of brand-name options. However, the FDA recently issued an alert about “dosing errors associated with compounded injectable semaglutide products.”
Semaglutide is the active ingredient in Ozempic and Wegovy. Both tirzepatide and semaglutide are part of a class of medication called GLP-1s.
According to Eli Lilly, a four-week supply of the 2.5 mg Zepbound single-dose vials is $399, or about $100 per vial, while a four-week supply of the 5 mg dose comes with a price tag of $549, or just under $140 per vial.
That is “less than half the list price” of other GLP-1 medications, the company said.
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