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Eli Lilly has released a new vial version of its blockbuster weight loss drug Zepbound for around half the price of its original injectable pen, as its battle with Novo Nordisk to boost production for the wildly popular medicine heats up.
The Indianapolis-based drugmaker said it had launched single-dose vials of Zepbound at two different concentrations, priced at $399 and $549 for a four-week supply, about half the wholesale list price of the original form.
Zepbound is typically sold in an injector pen, which packages the drug together with the needle used to administer it. Patients using its new vial will need to buy their own syringes to use it, cutting down the time taken to produce the dose.
Both Eli Lilly and its rival Novo Nordisk have been racing to overcome manufacturing bottlenecks to meet soaring demand for a market Goldman Sachs analysts estimate could be worth $130bn in peak annual sales. The “fill and finish” process to prepare the injectable pens has proven to be the biggest supply bottleneck.
Currently both Zepbound and Novo Nordisk’s Wegovy are on the US Food and Drug Administration’s shortages list.
Eli Lilly has recently shown signs of edging ahead of Novo Nordisk in the drive to boost capacity, having raised its annual revenue guidance in August on the back of bumper sales of Zepbound and Mounjaro, another so-called GLP-1 drug that is used to treat diabetes. Novo Nordisk was meanwhile forced to cut its annual profit forecast in August, as its attempts to boost supply of Ozempic and Wegovy fell short.
On Tuesday, Eli Lilly said it was “further delivering on our promise to increase supply of Zepbound in the US”. Patrik Jonsson, president of Lilly’s cardiometabolic health unit said: “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.”
The company said adults able to access the drug in its new, more affordable form in the US included “those without employer coverage, and those who need to self-pay outside of insurance”.
Patients will be able to buy the vials through Eli Lilly’s direct-to-consumer platform LillyDirect. A four-week supply of a 2.5mg dose will cost $399, while patients will pay $549 for the 5mg vial. That compares with a $1,060 list price for a month’s worth of Zepbound injection pens. Health insurers typically negotiate discounts from the list price, but patients whose insurance does not cover weight-loss drugs have to foot the bill themselves.
Eli Lilly’s move comes as it faces intensifying competition from cheaper, copycat weight-loss drugs, which have proliferated as shortages of Zepbound, Wegovy and others have taken hold.
Companies such as Him & Hers Health, which produce alternative versions of the drugs, have seen large share price jumps in recent months. Eli Lilly and Novo Nordisk have both filed multiple lawsuits to try to halt the sale of these compounded versions of their drugs.
