{"id":79949,"date":"2025-08-20T10:42:12","date_gmt":"2025-08-20T10:42:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/79949\/"},"modified":"2025-08-20T10:42:12","modified_gmt":"2025-08-20T10:42:12","slug":"ozempic-price-slashed-following-donald-trumps-demands-will-it-impact-the-uk-cost","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/79949\/","title":{"rendered":"Ozempic price slashed following Donald Trump’s demands – will it impact the UK cost?"},"content":{"rendered":"

Diabetes<\/a> patients in the US will now be able to purchase Ozempic<\/a> for half its usual cost.<\/p>\n

Novo Nordisk<\/a>, a Danish pharmaceutical company, said on Monday that it would be providing the drug through its direct pharmacy service for $499 (\u00a3369) per month, instead of just under $1,000 per month.<\/p>\n

The drug giant said it had made a deal with healthcare firm GoodRx to make Wegovy<\/a>, its obesity drug, available at this price in over 70,000 pharmacies nationwide.<\/p>\n

It comes after Novo Nordisk saw sales plummet last month, after competition ramped up in the US. <\/p>\n

The company said the profit warning came as a result of \u201cpersistent use\u201d of compounded \u2013 or copycat \u2013 versions of its drugs, as well as \u201cslower-than-expected market expansion and competition\u201d.<\/p>\n

It has faced serious competition from Mounjaro,<\/a> Eli Lilly\u2019s rival weight loss jab, as well as what it described as \u201cunsafe and unlawful mass compounding\u201d in the market as weight loss and diabetes drugs have soared in popularity.<\/p>\n

Ozempic and Wegovy both contain glucagon-like peptide-1 (GLP-1). It works by stimulating insulin secretion, which is why it helps patients with type 2 diabetes, but it also signals fullness to the brain.<\/p>\n

Wegovy only triggers the GLP-1 receptor in the brian but Mounjaro works on both GLP-1 and GIP receptors, which can lead to more weight loss.<\/p>\n

In March, Novo Nordisk reduced the cost of Wegovy for cash-paying patients, but now people without health insurance will be able to purchase it for this price.<\/p>\n

The move comes just weeks after President Donald Trump<\/a> criticised GLP-1 agonists for being more expensive in the US than in other countries, adding that he would \u201cslash the cost of prescription drugs\u201d by 80 per cent.<\/p>\n

Last month, Trump wrote to pharmaceutical leaders demanding that they \u201cnegotiate harder with foreign freeloading nations\u201d. <\/p>\n

He said: \u201cincreased revenues abroad must be repatriated to lower drug prices for American patients and taxpayers\u201d.<\/p>\n

He\u2019s since upped that number, saying he would cut drug prices up to \u201c1,500 percent,\u201d which is mathematically impossible without entering negative numbers.<\/p>\n

He also said that European nations were \u201cunfairly shifting the cost burden onto American patients\u201d by using their healthcare services to put pressure on US pharma companies to accept lower prices.<\/p>\n

Novo Nordisk said that the price cut was unrelated to discussions with the US government.<\/p>\n

Pfizer<\/a> CEO Albert Boula has said he and other pharma companies are in talks about making their drugs available at a lower cost.<\/p>\n

Will it impact the UK cost?<\/p>\n

In the UK, patients can buy a four-week supply of Ozempic for between \u00a3119 and \u00a3190 from online pharmacies. <\/p>\n

Novo Nordisk said it has no plans to rise UK prices, despite pressure from Trump.<\/p>\n

In a statement, it said it would continue to focus \u201con supporting patients, and we are committed to ensuring that our medicines are not only innovative but also accessible and affordable for those who need them most\u201d.<\/p>\n

However, last week, weight-loss drugmaker Eli Lilly said it would increase UK prices by as much as 170pc due to concerns about unfair pricing.<\/p>\n

The company said obesity drug Mounjaro would rise in price from Sept 1 in order to address \u201cpricing inconsistencies compared to other developed countries, including in Europe\u201d.<\/p>\n

The company\u2019s weight-loss jab will cost between \u00a3133 and \u00a3330 per injection (depending on dosage) in the UK.<\/p>\n

CheqUp, a weight-loss jab provider, reported that sales of Wegovy increased more than 500pc, following the Eli Lilly announcement.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Diabetes patients in the US will now be able to purchase Ozempic for half its usual cost. Novo…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":79950,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[42],"tags":[102,6591,578,56,54,55,14183],"class_list":{"0":"post-79949","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-medication","8":"tag-health","9":"tag-medication","10":"tag-ozempic","11":"tag-uk","12":"tag-united-kingdom","13":"tag-unitedkingdom","14":"tag-wegovy"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/79949","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=79949"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/79949\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/79950"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=79949"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=79949"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=79949"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}