By Steve Holland and Patrick Wingrove
WASHINGTON (Reuters) -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 for the government’s Medicare and Medicaid programs, as well as for cash payers.
The cuts, which the government said would reduce prices to between $149 and $350 a month on average for Americans, are aimed at increasing access to the treatments to millions more people. Current costs range from $500 through direct sales to a retail price of $1,000 per month.
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 – Lilly and Novo in particular – to lower their prices to what patients pay elsewhere.
“It’s going to equalize the world,” Trump told reporters from the Oval Office, noting that Lilly and Novo would be providing their other medications to Medicaid at “most-favored-nation” prices.
Trump said the move would expand access to millions more people in the U.S. Medicare program for those aged 65 and over and the Medicaid program for low-income people, which together provide healthcare coverage for nearly half of all Americans.
Currently, Medicare does not typically cover the drugs for obesity. Coverage in Medicaid, which is run by each state and jointly financed with the federal government, varies.
NEW PRICES UNDER DEAL
Starter doses of highly anticipated weight‑loss pills being developed by Lilly and Novo, if approved, will cost $149 per month to the government for its Medicare and Medicaid enrollees and to cash payers via the White House’s new direct-to-consumer TrumpRx site, the White House said.
The Food and Drug Administration said both pills were under consideration for a new speedy review pathway it has implemented that can shave months from the normal process.
Lilly CEO David Ricks said the company now expected approval of its obesity pill, orforglipron, in the first quarter of next year, in time for the government’s Medicare pricing pilot.
The announced price cuts vary and 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, the White House said.
For currently available injectable GLP-1s used for diabetes and other covered health issues, prices to the government would fall to $245 per month for patients in Medicare or Medicaid.
On the government’s TrumpRx website, available to all Americans, the average price of injectables and pills will start at or below $350 a month and is expected to trend downward to $245 within two years.
Lilly said the lowest dose of Zepbound will be available for $299 per month, with additional doses priced at $449 per month for cash-paying patients under the new deal.
It said higher doses of its obesity pill would be capped at $399 a month for repeat cash purchasers.
Novo did not provide details on the prices it agreed to under the deal.
In Medicare, patient co-pays will be capped at $50 a month, officials said.
COVERAGE TRENDING DOWN
Dr. Sarah Ro, medical director of the University of North Carolina Health’s weight management program, said coverage of weight-loss drugs had been trending in the wrong direction this year before Thursday’s announcement.
She said many of her patients had lost coverage for the GLP-1 weight-loss drugs on their employer health plans and that North Carolina’s Medicaid program recently dropped coverage for the obesity medications due to rising costs.
“That’s why this is such wonderful news,” Ro told Reuters.
A $50 monthly co-pay for Medicare patients should make a huge difference in access for seniors, she said. But she warned that a $350 monthly cash price would still put the drugs out of reach financially for many of her patients.
The American Medical Association described the increased access to the drugs as a transformative step in the battle against chronic disease and obesity and urged private insurers to expand their coverage as a result.
Novo’s Wegovy and Lilly’s Zepbound are the only highly effective GLP-1 weight-loss drugs sold mainly in the U.S. as weekly injections.
EXPANDED GOVERNMENT COVERAGE
The government will expand coverage for GLP-1s under the deal to overweight patients with prediabetes or heart problems, obese patients with comorbidities and severely obese patients, accounting for 10% of Medicare patients.
Administration officials said the companies would get relief from tariffs as part of the deal. Lilly and Novo said they would be exempted from tariffs for three years.
Novo Nordisk has committed to an additional $10 billion investment in the United States, Trump said.
Novo said it currently expects an estimated direct, negative low-single-digit hit to global sales growth in 2026.
Deutsche Bank analysts estimated that a $150 monthly cap could unlock access for up to 15 million Americans when applied to orforglipron.
(Reporting by Mrinalika Roy in Bengaluru, Bhanvi Satija and Maggie Fick in London; Chad Terhune in Los Angeles; Steve Holland, Andrea Shalal and Susan Heavey in Washington; Editing by Caroline Humer and Bill Berkrot)
