By Patrick Wingrove
(Reuters) -Novo Nordisk said on Monday it has begun selling its popular weight-loss drug Wegovy for $349 a month to cash payers, months ahead of the timeline set out with the Trump administration.
The same cash price will apply to most doses of Novo’s diabetes drug Ozempic, the company said, except the highest 2 mg dose, which will remain $499.
Novo and U.S. President Donald Trump announced a deal earlier this month to cut the prices of Wegovy and Ozempic, both known chemically as semaglutide, to $350 a month for cash payers starting in January, down from $499.
U.S. rival Eli Lilly also announced that the lowest dose of its obesity medicine Zepbound would be available for $299 per month as of January, with additional doses priced at $449 per month for cash-paying patients under the new deal.
Novo said Monday’s move was part of a broader push to expand access to “authentic, FDA-approved semaglutide medicines.”
The Danish drugmaker has struggled this year to fend off competition from Lilly, which moved faster to offer its drug to cash payers, and from pharmacies and telehealth providers selling cheaper copies of Wegovy.
Novo signaled deep change by appointing Mike Doustdar as CEO in August, who quickly set a course for 9,000 layoffs at the company worldwide and a major business reboot.
Novo also said on Monday it has rolled out an introductory deal of $199 a month for the lowest two doses of Wegovy and Ozempic. The offer applies for two months to any new patients paying cash for the drugs between now and March 31, 2026.
The new cash offers can be accessed through the Ozempic or Wegovy websites, Novo’s direct-to-consumer website NovoCare, or through various partners including GoodRx, WeightWatchers and Costco, according to Novo.
GoodRx on Monday said it will also launch a weight-loss telehealth service for Wegovy and Ozempic at $39 a month for subscribers who sign up before February 1, 2026, rising to $119 a month afterward.
As part of their deal with Trump, starter doses of Novo’s and Lilly’s highly anticipated weight‑loss pills being developed, if approved, would 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 earlier this month.
The companies’ injectable obesity medicines would be sold to the government’s Medicare and Medicaid programs for a net price of $245 a month.
(Reporting by Patrick Wingrove in New York; Editing by Matthew Lewis)
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