(AP Photo/Darron Cummings and Photo courtesy of GoodRX)
By Deborah Bailey
AFRO Contributing Editor
dbailey@afro.com
Eli Lilly pharmaceuticals has announced a significant price reduction for the lowest dose of Zepbound, one of its high demand medications approved for weight loss. The announcement came Aug. 29, as the rate of obesity is skyrocketing in America. Most insurance companies still refuse to cover obesity medications
Under Lilly’s discounted price plan, patients who pay for Zepbound out of pocket can now obtain a four-week supply of the 2.5 mg single-dose vial for $399 ($99.75 per vial). A four-week supply of the 5 mg dose has been reduced to $549 ($137.25 per vial). The monthly list price for Zepbound was previously $1059, regardless of the dose.
“This is a welcome first step for American families struggling to access these drugs,” said President Joseph Biden in a statement responding to the price reduction. “But it is critical that drug companies lower their prices across the board,” Biden added.
Health advocates and physicians’ groups warn patients that the price reduction for Zepbound only applies to the two “starter” doses of the drug. Patients must pay for the drug out of pocket and persons opting for the lower cost drugs, will need to opt out of Eli Lilly’s coupon program available to lower the cost for other weight loss medications.
To receive the discounted price, patients must have a prescription and use LillyDirect, the pharmaceutical firm’s telehealth platform. The medications will come packaged in single dose vials that must be used with a syringe. Vials with the auto-injector pen are also available for a higher price.
Patrik Jonsson, executive vice president of Eli Lilly and Co., said the price reduction gives patients living with obesity options. In a statement announcing the Zepbound price reduction, Jonsson said the new program gives patients options.
“Despite obesity being recognized as a serious chronic illness with long-term consequences, it’s often misclassified as a lifestyle choice, resulting in many employers and the federal government excluding medications like Zepbound from insurance coverage,” said Jonsson.
U.S. Representative Sheila Cherfilus-McCormick (D-FLA) is a sponsor of congressional legislation to expand Medicare coverage for obesity treatments. Cherfilus-McCormick and Karry Buchson, M.D. (R-IN) are bi-partisan co-sponsors of the Treat and Reduce Obesity Act (T.R.O.A.) H.R. 4818 & D. 2407. If passed, T.R.O.A. would potentially extend obesity treatment access to more than 67.2 million recipients nationwide, according to the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS).
“Every person living with obesity deserves access to comprehensive care to improve their health and wellbeing, just as they would receive for any other chronic disease,” Cherfilus-McCormick stated at a Congressional Briefing on Obesity held last month.
Forty percent of Americans are now classified as obese, according to the Centers for Disease Control with half of all Black Americans meeting obesity guidelines. Obesity is related to many chronic diseases and conditions including type II diabetes, heart diseases and certain cancers, including breast cancer according to the World Health Organization.
Obesity has been classified as a chronic disease for more than a decade. The American Medical Association voted to classify obesity as a disease in 2013 to focus on prevention and treatment and to end a history of bias and discrimination both from the public as well as the medical profession itself.
Reporting on this story is through the support of a journalism fellowship from the Gerontology Society of America, The Journalists’ Network on Generations and the Commonwealth Fund.
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