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 like Ozempic for the government’s Medicare and Medicaid programs, as well as for cash payers.
The move is aimed at increasing access to the treatments through U.S. Medicare for people aged 65 and over and the Medicaid program for low-income people, which together provide healthcare coverage for nearly half of all Americans.
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 to lower their prices to what patients pay elsewhere.
“GLP-1s have been top of mind and not just because of the cardiometabolic benefits that they provide, but also because it is an issue of fairness and utilization and pricing and access and affordability for the American people,” an administration official told reporters.
Trump said the move “will save lives, improve the health of millions and millions of Americans,” during an Oval Office announcement in which he referred to GLP-1s as a “fat drug.”
Starter doses of rival 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 site, TrumpRx, senior administration officials said.
For currently available injectable GLP-1s used for diabetes and other covered health issues like Ozempic, Wegovy, Mounjaro and Zepbound, prices would fall to $245 per month for patients with Medicare or Medicaid, they said.
On TrumpRx, the average price of injectables and pills will start at or below $350 monthly and is expected to trend downward to $245 within two years.
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In Medicare, patients’ co-pays will be capped at $50 a month, officials said.
Commercial health insurers would also be able to access prices estimated to be 25% lower than current cash prices, they said.
The government will also expand coverage for GLP-1s under the deal, officials said, to overweight patients with prediabetes or heart problems, obese patients with comorbidities and severely obese patients, accounting for 10% of Medicare patients.
The agreed prices 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.
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 1%, while Eli Lilly shares were flat in early trading.
Administration officials said the companies would get relief from tariffs as part of the deal. They also said Novo and Lilly will receive fast-track regulatory vouchers for some of their drugs.
Novo’s Wegovy and Eli Lilly’s Zepbound are the only highly effective GLP-1 weight-loss drugs sold mainly in the U.S. as weekly injections. List prices top $1,000 a month, though both offer cash buyers a $499 monthly supply.
The monthly price in the U.S. is far above what other countries pay. In Canada, patients pay an average of $150 per month ($210 CAD), while some European nations’ price is under $100 monthly.
Currently, Medicare does not readily cover the drugs for obesity. Coverage in Medicaid, which is run by each state and jointly financed with the federal government, varies.
Deutsche Bank analysts saw the deal as a potential catalyst for Lilly’s growth. It estimated that a $150 monthly cap could unlock access for up to 15 million Americans when applied to orforglipron, its experimental weight-loss pill that succeeded in its late-stage trial.
Deutsche Bank said increased uptake would come from the estimated 20% of obese adults who do not like needles and would prefer pills. About 2.7 million Americans currently take Lilly’s injectable Zepbound, it said.
Lilly and Novo are both racing to bring oral GLP-1 treatments to market. Novo’s once-daily oral Wegovy is under U.S. FDA review with a decision expected in late 2025, while Lilly’s orforglipron is set for regulatory submission by the end of 2025 and a potential launch in 2026.
BMO Capital analyst Evan Seigerman said Lilly’s dominance in the GLP-1 space continues to deepen, with physicians and patients increasingly favoring its drugs.
“A potential deal with the Trump administration’s direct-to-consumer platform, TrumpRx, could further accelerate Lilly’s momentum,” he said, as expanded government coverage more than offsets any decline in net pricing.
The Trump administration has said TrumpRx.gov will launch in 2026 as a way to facilitate direct-to-consumer sales of drugs at what it has described as most-favored-nation pricing.
Several other drugmakers, including Pfizer and AstraZeneca, have signed on through new agreements tied to the TrumpRx platform.
Dr. Leslie Golden says she has roughly 600 patients taking one of these treatments, and 75% or more struggle to afford them. Even with coverage, some face $150 copayments for refills.
“Every visit it’s, ‘How long can we continue to do this? What’s the plan if I can’t continue?,’” said Golden, an obesity medicine specialist in Watertown, Wisconsin. “Some of them are working additional jobs or delaying retirement so they can continue to pay for it.”
Both Lilly and Novo have already cut prices on their drugs. Lilly said earlier this year it would reduce the cost of initial doses of Zepbound to $349.
Dr. Angela Fitch, who also treats patients with obesity, said she hoped a deal between the White House and drugmakers could be the first step in making the treatments more affordable.
“We need a hero in obesity care today,” said Fitch, founder and chief medical officer of knownwell, a weight-loss and medical care company. “The community has faced relentless barriers to accessing GLP-1 medications, which has ultimately come down to the price, despite the data we have supporting their effectiveness.”
—With additional files from the Associated Press and Global News
