Novo drops price for introductory GLP-1 doses, undercutting its competitors

Novo Nordisk slashed the cash-pay price for starting doses of its diabetes and weight-loss shots, Ozempic and Wegovy, in a bold move to boost sales after it’s lost ground in the GLP-1 market to Eli Lilly and compounders.

Starting Monday, the introductory doses for self-pay patients will be priced at $199 a month, the Danish pharmaceutical giant said. That's about the same price as the copycat versions sold by Hims & Hers and others.

After the first two months of treatment, a monthly dose of Novo’s shots goes up to $349 a month, compared to the $499 monthly price tag the shots previously had. Eli Lilly’s cash-pay price for a low dose of its weight-loss shot Zepbound is $349 a month, rising to $499 for higher doses.

The shots are available online via Novo’s direct-to-consumer pharmacy, NovoCare, as well as through its partners, which include Costco and telehealth companies like Ro and Weight Watchers. Novo and Lilly have embraced DTC sales channels in the past year as a way to cut out middlemen and reduce prices for patients not using insurance.

Novo, which was the first to bring GLP-1s to market, has been outpaced in sales by Lilly this year. It’s been competing with Lilly’s more effective drugs, as well as cheaper compounded versions made by companies like Hims.

Both Lilly and Novo reached a deal with the Trump administration to cut the price of their blockbuster drugs starting next year.