President Donald Trump on Thursday announced deals with Eli Lilly and Novo Nordisk to slash the prices of some of their obesity drugs, including upcoming pills, in a landmark effort to expand access to the costly blockbuster treatments.
The agreements will cut prices of so-called GLP-1 drugs for Medicare and Medicaid beneficiaries in 2026 and offer the treatments directly to consumers at a discount on a website the Trump administration is launching in January called TrumpRx.gov.
That means Medicare will start covering obesity drugs for some patients for the first time starting mid-2026, a long-awaited move that could broaden the market for the medicines and spur more private insurers to cover them. Certain Medicare patients will pay a copay of $50 per month for all approved uses of injectable and oral GLP-1 drugs, including diabetes and obesity treatment.
Starting doses of upcoming obesity pills from Eli Lilly and Novo Nordisk, pending approvals, will be $149 per month for everyone getting them through Medicare, Medicaid or TrumpRx, a senior administration official who declined to be named told reporters during a briefing Thursday.
Novo Nordisk’s oral version of its obesity injection Wegovy could enter the market by year-end, while Eli Lilly’s pill orforglipron could launch next year. The Food and Drug Administration on Thursday said it has awarded priority review vouchers, which expedite the review timelines of Eli Lilly’s pill.
Starting doses of existing injections like Novo’s Wegovy and Lilly’s Zepbound will be $350 per month on TrumpRX, but will “trend down” to $245 per month over a two-year period, another senior administration official said during the briefing.
