Novo Nordisk’s NovoCare will now provide uninsured or underinsured patients access to Wegovy for just $499 per month—less than half of its list price.
Novo Nordisk is following rival Eli Lilly into direct-to-consumer marketing for its weight loss drug Wegovy, launching NovoCare Wednesday and dropping the price of all doses. Patients will now be able to get home shipments of Wegovy when they pay just $499 per month. The discount compares to the prior price of $1,349 per month in the U.S., BMO Capital Markets analysts said in a Wednesday morning note.
The DTC program is a response to LillyDirect, which was launched in January 2024. BMO called Novo’s move “a modest positive for Novo shares.” Indeed, the company’s shares jumped over 4% to $91.09 as markets opened Wednesday, compared to yesterday’s closing price of $87.50.
Patients who are uninsured or those with commercial insurance that does not cover weight loss medications can now use the NovoCare program, the company said in its release. Novo also promised to update the price of Wegovy at a later date for patients who seek it via traditional pharmacies to reflect the new savings at NovoCare.
Novo has faced criticism from Congress over the price of Wegovy, as Lilly began offering certain doses of its rival med Zepbound via LillyDirect at a 50% discount. Wegovy and its diabetes counterpart Ozempic, as well as Novo’s other weight loss product Rybelsus, have also been targeted in the second round of the Inflation Reduction Act’s drug price negotiation program. The company has filed a legal complaint seeking relief from the program.
Reclaiming the Market
Novo said that the launch coincides with the FDA’s recent decision to declare a shortage of Wegovy over, “with all dose strengths of Wegovy meeting or exceeding both current and projected U.S. demand.”
Novo also took a direct shot at compounding pharmacies that began offering semaglutide, the active ingredient in Wegovy, while the drug was on the FDA’s shortage list. “NovoCare Pharmacy offers patients access to authentic, FDA-approved Wegovy, helping to avoid the significant risks that can be posed by the compounding marketplace, as warned by respected organizations, experts in the medical community, and the FDA.”
With the FDA shortage in its rearview, BMO said Novo is looking to “reclaim” demand and take back portions of the market that compounding pharmacies had filled. “Novo has significantly more legal standing to prevent compounding pharmacies from producing their own semaglutide variants of questionable purity,” BMO wrote. Novo has also been battling unauthorized and counterfeit versions of the drug.
“With both LillyDirect and NovoCare established, both Lilly and Novo look to cut out compounding pharmacies, which have taken some of their product’s sizable demand,” BMO noted.
The compounding pharmacies, however, are fighting back by suing the FDA for declaring the end of the shortage.
One area where Lilly’s and Novo’s DTC programs differ is in the administration being offered. NovoCare will provide the product in an injectable pen, while patients seeking Zepbound via LillyDirect can only get access to vials of the medicine for self-injection.
Novo is the latest Big Pharma to join the DTC push, with Lilly and Pfizer leading the way. Pfizer’s PfizerForAll portal allows access to the pharma giant’s vaccines, plus migraine and respiratory drugs. Dedham Group Principal Manny Jurado told BioSpace in September 2024 that Novo was likely to follow suit.
