Novo Nordisk offers diabetes drug Ozempic for steep cash discount

Novo Nordisk on Monday said it now offers cash-paying U.S. patients its blockbuster diabetes treatment Ozempic for less than half its monthly list price, as drugmakers face mounting political pressure to lower prices in the country.

Patients can pay $499 in cash per month for three dose sizes of Ozempic. They can get the price through platforms including the drug’s official website, Novo Nordisk’s patient assistance program and the company’s recently launched direct-to-consumer online pharmacy, the latter of which also ships the injection directly to patients’ homes. 

Drug savings company GoodRx will also offer Ozempic and its weight loss counterpart Wegovy for $499 per month, making the discounts available at more than 70,000 pharmacies nationwide, according to a Novo Nordisk release.

“We’ve seen skyrocketing demand from our consumer base for these highly sought after therapies, yet millions of people still lack adequate insurance coverage,” said GoodRx CEO Wendy Barnes in a statement. “With this collaboration, we’re making a significant step forward in our broader effort to fill the gaps in coverage when insurance falls short.” 

Novo Nordisk’s cash-pay offering will expand access to eligible Type 2 diabetes patients who don’t have insurance coverage for the weekly injection. In March, the company began to offer Wegovy for half its list price to cash-paying Americans. 

Ozempic’s list price before insurance and other rebates is almost $1,350 per month, and has been a frequent target of political and public blowback in recent years. The new offer comes after President Donald Trump in July sent separate letters to Novo Nordisk and 16 other drugmakers, calling on them to take steps to lower medication prices in the U.S. Among other suggested actions, he urged them to adopt models that sell medicines directly to consumers or businesses. 

The efforts aim to make Ozempic and Wegovy available to more people, while also ensuring that patients use the branded medication instead of cheaper compounded copycats. Those drugs exploded in popularity during a now-resolved U.S. shortage of Novo Nordisk’s semaglutide, the active ingredient in both drugs.

While Ozempic “is well covered in the US, let’s not forget that there are some patients who pay out-of-pocket for this vital medicine,” Dave Moore, executive vice president of U.S. operations and global business development at Novo Nordisk, said in the release. “We believe that if even a single patient feels the need to turn to potentially unsafe and unapproved knockoff alternatives, that’s one too many.”

Eli Lilly has similarly moved to slash the price of its popular obesity and diabetes drugs for cash-paying patients. The two companies are fighting to dominate the market for so-called GLP-1s, which mimic certain gut hormones to suppress appetite and regulate blood sugar.