President Donald Trump unveiled a deal Thursday with drugmakers Eli Lilly and Novo Nordisk to expand coverage and reduce prices for their popular obesity treatments Zepbound and Wegovy.<\/p>\n
The drugs are part of a new generation of obesity medications known as GLP-1 receptor agonists that have soared in popularity in recent years.<\/p>\n
But access to the drugs has been a consistent problem for patients because of their cost \u2014 around $500 a month for higher doses \u2014 and\u00a0insurance coverage<\/a>\u00a0has been spotty.<\/p>\n Coverage of the drugs for obesity will expand to Medicare patients starting next year, according to the administration, which said some lower prices also will be phased in for patients without coverage. Starting doses of new, pill versions of the treatments also will cost $149 a month if they are approved.<\/p>\n Thursday\u2019s announcement is the latest attempt by the Trump administration to rein in soaring drug prices in its efforts to address cost-of-living concerns among voters. Drugmakers Pfizer and AstraZeneca recently agreed to lower the cost of prescription drugs for Medicaid after an executive order in May set a deadline for drugmakers to electively lower prices or face new limits on what the government will pay.<\/p>\n As with the other deals, it\u2019s not clear how much the price drop will be felt by consumers. Drug prices can vary based on the competition for treatments and insurance coverage.<\/p>\n Obesity drugs have become increasingly popular, but are costly<\/p>\n The obesity drugs work by targeting hormones in the gut and brain that affect appetite and feelings of fullness. In clinical trials, they helped people shed between 15% and 22% of their body weight — up to 50 pounds or more in many cases.<\/p>\n Patients taking these drugs usually start on smaller doses and then work up to larger amounts, depending on their needs. Because of obesity being considered a chronic disease, they need to take the treatment indefinitely or risk regaining weight, experts say.<\/p>\n The fast-growing treatments have proven especially lucrative for drugmakers Eli Lilly and Co. and Novo Nordisk. Lilly said recently that sales of Zepbound have tripled so far this year to more than $9 billion.<\/p>\n But for many Americans, their cost has made them out of reach.<\/p>\n Medicare, the federally funded coverage program mainly for people ages 65 and over, hasn\u2019t covered the treatments for obesity. President Donald Trump\u2019s predecessor, Joe Biden,\u00a0proposed a rule<\/a>\u00a0last November that would have changed that. But the Trump administration\u00a0nixed it<\/a>\u00a0last spring.<\/p>\n Few state and federally funded\u00a0Medicaid programs<\/a>, for people with low incomes, offer coverage. And employers and insurers that provide commercial coverage are wary of paying for these drugs in part because of the large number of patients that might use them.<\/p>\n The\u00a0$500 monthly price<\/a>\u00a0for higher doses of the treatments also makes them unaffordable for those without insurance, doctors say.<\/p>\n Medicare now covers the cost of the drugs for conditions such as type 2 diabetes and cardiovascular disease, but not for weight loss alone.<\/p>\n Trump moves on cost-of-living concerns<\/p>\n The effort to lower costs barriers to popular GLP-1 drugs comes as the White House is looking to demonstrate that Trump is in touch with American\u2019s frustrations with rising costs for food, housing, health care and other necessities.<\/p>\n Republican gubernatorial candidates in New Jersey and Virginia faced a drubbing in Tuesday\u2019s election in which dour voter outlook about the economy appeared to an animating factor in the races.<\/p>\n Roughly half of Virginia voters said \u201cthe economy\u201d was the top issue, and about 6 in 10 of these voters picked Democrat\u00a0Abigail Spanberger<\/a>\u00a0for governor, powering her to a decisive win, according to\u00a0an AP voter poll.<\/a><\/p>\n In New Jersey, Democrat\u00a0Mikie Sherrill<\/a>\u00a0won about two-thirds of voters who called \u201cthe economy\u201d the top issue facing the state, the poll found. She defeated a Trump-endorsed Republican candidate Jack Ciattarelli. More than half of New York City voters said the cost of living was the top issue facing the city. The Democratic mayor-elect\u00a0Zohran Mamdani<\/a>\u00a0won about two-thirds of this group.<\/p>\n The White House sought to diminish the effort by the previous Democratic administration as a gift to the pharmaceutical industry because the proposal did not include adequate price concessions from the drug makers.<\/p>\n Trump, instead, consummated a \u201cbelt and suspenders\u201d deal that ensures that Americans aren\u2019t unfairly financing the pharmaceutical industry\u2019s innovation, claimed a senior administration official, who briefed reporters ahead of Thursday\u2019s Oval Office announcement by Trump.<\/p>\n Another senior administration official said coverage of the drugs will expand to Medicare patients starting next year. Those who qualify will pay $50 copays for the medicine.<\/p>\n Lower prices also will be phased in for people without coverage through the administration\u2019s TrumpRx program, which will allow people to buy drugs directly from manufacturers. starting in January.<\/p>\n The officials said lower prices also will be provided for state and federally funded Medicaid programs. And starting doses of new, pill versions of the obesity treatments will cost $149 a month if they are approved.<\/p>\n The officials briefed reporters on the condition of anonymity under ground rules set by the White House.<\/p>\n Doctors applaud the price drop<\/p>\n 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.<\/p>\n \u201cEvery visit it\u2019s, \u2018How long can we continue to do this? What\u2019s the plan if I can\u2019t continue?,\u2019\u201d said Golden, an obesity medicine specialist in Watertown, Wisconsin. \u201cSome of them are working additional jobs or delaying retirement so they can continue to pay for it.\u201d<\/p>\n 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.<\/p>\n The potential to cover the medication for the 30 million people on Medicare who have obesity would be welcome, said Dr. Fatima Cody Stanford, an obesity expert at Massachusetts General Hospital. But until details are released, she remains skeptical.<\/p>\n \u201cI would have to see it to believe it,\u201d she said. \u201cI need to see something that is more definitive for Medicare beneficiaries. I need to see something that is tangible and sustainable.\u201d<\/p>\n 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.<\/p>\n \u201cWe need a hero in obesity care today,\u201d said Fitch, founder and chief medical officer of knownwell, a weight-loss and medical care company. \u201cThe 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.\u201d<\/p>\n If you purchase a product or register for an account through a link on our site, we may receive compensation. By using this site, you consent to our User Agreement<\/a> and agree that your clicks, interactions, and personal information may be collected, recorded, and\/or stored by us and social media and other third-party partners in accordance with our Privacy Policy.<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"President Donald Trump unveiled a deal Thursday with drugmakers Eli Lilly and Novo Nordisk to expand coverage and…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":275936,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[59],"tags":[97,252,253],"class_list":["post-275935","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-health-care","tag-health","tag-health-care","tag-healthcare"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/275935","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=275935"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/275935\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/275936"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=275935"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=275935"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=275935"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}