By TOM MURPHY, Related Press

Eli Lilly’s inventory wobbled Thursday after a looming protection hit was detailed for its blockbuster weight-loss drug Zepbound.

CVS Well being mentioned the medication Wegovy and Saxenda from rival drugmaker Novo Nordisk will change into the popular choices on its customary formulary, or record of coated medication, as of July 1. Zepbound will likely be excluded.

This might complicate entry to a drug that many sufferers can’t afford to pay for on their very own.

The formulary is maintained by CVS Well being’s pharmacy advantages administration enterprise, which runs prescription drug protection for hundreds of thousands of individuals. Employers and insurers — who pay many of the prescription invoice — use the formulary to resolve which medication get protection.

They will customise their protection plans to incorporate Zepbound. However CVS Well being spokesman David Whitrap mentioned most employers wind up utilizing the usual formulary due to the reductions negotiated for them.

Sufferers taking Zepbound will have the ability to change to Wegovy if the Lilly drug is excluded from their protection, Whitrap mentioned.

CVS Well being additionally mentioned Thursday that it’ll begin promoting Wegovy at a reduced worth of about $500 month-to-month at hundreds of drugstores for folks with out protection. Novo had introduced its new lower cost final month.

Wegovy and Zepbound are a part of a wave of weight problems medicines generally known as GLP-1 receptor agonists which have soared in reputation as a result of quantity of weight folks lose whereas taking the injections. Protection of those medication has been patchy because of partially to their value and the vast swath of sufferers who might take them.

Shortages of the medication even have made entry difficult, however these have eased just lately. That enables pharmacy profit managers to pit the merchandise towards one another to barter decrease costs in trade for inclusion on a formulary.

Lilly might need to make some worth cuts to revive formulary entry, mentioned Daniel Barasa, who follows the corporate for Gabelli Funds. However he mentioned he thinks massive employers will nonetheless embrace each therapies on their lists of coated medication, leaving the selection on what to make use of as much as sufferers and medical doctors.

Lilly mentioned late final yr {that a} head-to-head examine of the 2 medication confirmed that Zepbound helped sufferers drop extra kilos.

Zepbound has emerged as considered one of Lilly’s high sellers. Its gross sales jumped to $2.3 billion within the just lately accomplished first quarter. That’s up from $517 million a yr in the past, through the drug’s first full quarter available on the market.

Lilly shares shed greater than $90 in worth, falling almost 11% to $804.06 Thursday afternoon. Broader indexes, in the meantime, rose barely.

Initially Printed: Might 1, 2025 at 1:24 PM EDT