1 of 4 | President Donald Trump, in the Oval Office on Thursday, announces agreements with Eli Lilly & Co. and Novo Nordisk A/S to slash prices for their blockbuster weight-loss drugs in exchange for tariff relief and wider access for Medicare patients. Photo by Aaron Schwartz/UPI | License Photo
Eli Lilly and Novo Nordisk officials have agreed to lower the cost of GLP-1 obesity drugs for Medicaid and Medicare recipients and those who pay directly and make treatments more accessible, President Donald Trump announced Thursday.
The president said it will include pill versions of the drugs, which are to be made available soon, according to CNBC.
Medicare will begin to provide coverage for the obesity drugs for some people in mid-2026, which also might cause more private insurers to likewise add coverage for them.
The Trump administration in January also is launching the TrumpRx.gov website, which will enable consumers to access the GLP-1 drug discounts.
Novo’s Wegovy and Eli Lilly’s Zepbound obesity drugs, both of which are injectable, would cost $350 per month via TrumpRX.
Trump said those drugs have not been available as a weight-loss treatment through Medicare and “they’ve only rarely been covered by Medicaid,” as quoted by CNBC.
“They’ve often cost consumers more than $1,000 per month, some a lot more than that,” the president added. “That ends, starting today.”
The deal could lower the cost of the drugs to $150 per month for prescriptions that are available in pill form and that contain the lowest doses, The New York Times reported.
The lowest rate will be available for only those who obtain them through Medicaid or Medicare, which will pay the cost, or by paying directly out of their own pockets.
Injectable drugs that contain higher doses also will be available through Medicaid and Medicare, and the new deal lowers the cost that the federal health insurance programs will pay for them.
People will have greater access to the drugs, but not everyone diagnosed as obese will benefit from the federal programs.
Those costs will decline to $245 per month over the next two years.
“This is the biggest drug in our country, and that’s why this is the most important of all announcements we’ve made,” Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. said Thursday.
“This is going to have the biggest impact on the American people,” Kennedy said. “All Americans, even those who are not on Medicaid, Medicare, are going to be able to get the same price for their drugs.”
He estimated Americans would lose a combined 125 million pounds over the next year due to the expanded availability of obesity drugs at lower costs.
Thursday’s announcement is in line with the president’s goal of lowering prescription drug costs across the board in the United States.
The Trump administration also has made deals with drugmakers Pfizer, AstraZeneca and EMD Serono to enable them to provide some prescription drugs directly to consumers and avoid potential tariffs on pharmaceuticals.
