U.S. patients can now get Ozempic for half price if they can pay cash

Novo Nordisk is making Ozempic available for US$499 for cash-paying patients. (Jaap Arriens/NurPhoto/Shutterstock via CNN Newsource)

Novo Nordisk announced Monday that U.S. patients can now get a month’s supply of Ozempic, the blockbuster diabetes drug, for US$499, for those who pay for medications on their own and don’t go through insurance.

The move comes as U.S. President Donald Trump is pressuring drugmakers to lower drug costs, which have long been a major health care headache for Americans. He and lawmakers have called out popular but pricey GLP-1 drugs, which are used for diabetes and weight loss, noting they are much more expensive in the United States than in other countries.

Trump has also been pushing pharmaceutical manufacturers to provide medications directly to consumers at a lower price, cutting out insurers and other players. Novo Nordisk is making Ozempic, which carries a list price of just under $1,000 per month, available at its NovoCare Pharmacy, which ships medications directly to cash-paying consumers.

The drugmaker earlier this year launched the direct-to-consumer pharmacy, offering Wegovy, its in-demand weight loss drug, for $499 a month. Rival Eli Lilly has also slashed the price of its GLP-1 weight loss drug, Zepbound, for self-pay patients.

The discounted Ozempic price is also available on other platforms, including Novo Nordisk’s website and through a partnership with GoodRx, which offers discounts on prescriptions at many pharmacies. The offer is open to eligible patients with an Ozempic prescription, the drugmaker said.

Insurers are more likely to cover Ozempic for those with diabetes than they are Wegovy, and Novo Nordisk offers discounts for those with coverage. However, Novo Nordisk is looking to broaden Ozempic’s availability even further.

“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 Novo Nordisk’s U.S. operations, said in a statement. “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.”

The company noted in its second-quarter earnings call this month that compounding pharmacies, which are allowed to make versions of medications approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration when drugs are in shortage, have affected the sales of its GLP-1 medications.

The FDA removed Novo Nordisk’s semaglutide-based drugs, Ozempic and Wegovy, along with Eli Lilly’s tirzepatide-based drugs, Zepbound and Mounjaro, from the shortage list. Novo Nordisk, however, said compounded versions continue to be sold.

By Tami Luhby, CNN