Eli Lilly launches lower-cost weight loss drug

Eli Lilly will now sell cheaper vials of weight loss drug Zepbound in order to meet increased demand.

Transcript

00:00I'm Conway Gittins reporting from the New York Stock Exchange, here's what we're watching

00:03on the street today.

00:04The Dow squeezed out a gain to set a record-closing high for the second day in a row.

00:10The move was not big, however, with investors unwilling to make major moves ahead of Nvidia's

00:15quarterly numbers.

00:16The AI chip giant will release results on Wednesday, and it's not alone.

00:21Salesforce, CrowdStrike, and HP will report as well.

00:25In other business headlines, Eli Lilly has launched a direct-to-consumer dosage of its

00:30popular weight loss drug, ZepBound, and this version is about half the price.

00:35Now there's a four-week supply of 2.5 mg single-dose vials for $399 a month and a 5 mg dose for

00:44$549.

00:45ZepBound is one of the new successful GLP-1 weight loss drugs on the market.

00:51Lilly is hoping to cut out counterfeiters, copycats, and various telehealth medicine

00:55companies that are providing this blockbuster class of drugs to millions of Americans without

01:00health coverage.

01:01In a statement, Eli Lilly said,

01:04Distributing the vials via this channel ensures patients and providers can trust they are

01:09receiving genuine Lilly medicine, building on the company's efforts to help protect the

01:14public from the dangers posed by the proliferation of counterfeit, fake, unsafe, or untested

01:21knockoffs of Lilly's medications.

01:24Patients with a prescription who want to purchase ZepBound directly from Eli Lilly will be able

01:28to do so via Lilly Direct, which is partnering with a third-party digital pharmacy called

01:33Gift Health.

01:34This direct-to-consumer model also opens up a new consumer base since Medicare does not

01:39cover GLP-1s and some private health insurance providers don't either.

01:44That however has not stopped their popularity.

01:47Weight loss drugs like ZepBound, Monjaro, and Wegovy cost about $1,000 a month before

01:53insurance and other rebates.

01:56That'll do it for your daily briefing from the New York Stock Exchange.

01:59I'm Conway Gittens with the Street.