Eli Lilly said it has started selling single-dose vials of its uber-popular weight-loss drug Zepbound as demand soars – and the smaller doses cost 50% less than rival drugs.
The more affordable vials are marketed toward patients whose health insurance will not reimburse them for weight-loss medications.
The drugmaker said it will sell 2.5 milligram and 5 milligram vials – now the two lowest doses of Zepbound – for $399 and $549 for a month’s supply on its website, LillyDirect.
Lilly and its Danish rival Novo Nordisk have struggled to keep up with skyrocketing demand.
Zepbound and Novo’s Wegovy have faced shortages for most of this year, according to the US Food and Drug Administration.
Zepbound and Wegovy are currently listed as available, but still in shortage, according to the FDA.
The smaller vials will help boost Lilly’s supply and help the company meet high demand as obesity drugs have become a trend.
“We are very confident with both the auto-injectors and the vials that we will be able to supply the needs in the U.S. marketplace,” Patrik Jonsson, Lilly’s president of cardiometabolic health, told Reuters.
He said a large number of patients do not need a higher dose of Zepbound than the 5 milligram vial.
The new vials are priced at a 50% discount compared to all other obesity medicines in the GLP-1 class, Lilly said.
About 86% of commercial healthcare plans cover the cost of obesity drugs, Lilly said.
But for patients who are not covered for weight-loss medicines – like those on some of the US government’s Medicare plans – a month’s supply of Zepbound could cost more than $1,000.
Lilly raised its sales forecast for the year earlier this month by $3 billion.
The company cited improved manufacturing and increased supplies of Zepbound and diabetes medicine Mounjaro, which is chemically known as tirzepatide – the same chemical used in Zepbound.
Medicines often used to treat diabetes have soared in popularity for weight loss use.
Weight-loss drugs have even become a trend among celebrities – which some doctors have warned is dangerous.
“The Hollywood trend is concerning,” Dr. Caroline Apovian, co-director of a women’s hospital in Boston, told PEOPLE. “We’re not talking about stars who need to lose 10 pounds. We’re talking about people who are dying of obesity, are going to die of obesity.”
Talk show phenomenon Oprah Winfrey – who famously sat on the board of diet program WeightWatchers – made headlines when she revealed she was using a weight loss medication last year.
With Post wires
