Days after joining its fellow GLP-1 giant Eli Lilly in coming to agreements with the Trump administration to slash the costs of their uber popular weight loss meds in the U.S., Novo Nordisk has pulled back the curtain on its new cash-pay price tags.
The Danish drugmaker didn’t initially share the details of the cost cuts in the Nov. 6 announcement of its plan to make diabetes drug Ozempic and obesity treatment Wegovy more affordable for Medicare, Medicaid and self-paying patients, though President Donald Trump said in a press conference that day that Medicare patients would be able to access Novo and Lilly’s GLP-1s for $50 per month.
Novo revealed Monday that the self-pay cost for all dosages of Wegovy and all but the 2-mg dose of Ozempic will be $349 per month, down from $499, which itself was a markdown earlier this year from Wegovy’s previous cash-pay price of $650. The highest dose of Ozempic will still run for $499.
The monthly list prices for Ozempic and Wegovy are about $998 and $1,350, respectively.
The new prices take effect immediately, “months in advance” of the nonspecific 2026 timeline set in the White House deal, as Novo noted in Monday’s announcement.
Meanwhile, also starting this week, new self-paying Ozempic and Wegovy patients will pay only $199 for each of their first two months, with the offer only applicable to each of the meds' lowest two doses. The introductory offer will last through March 31 and echoes the first-time user discount that Novo rolled out this past summer, as compounders were set to stop making their cheaper copycat versions of GLP-1s.
The new pricing scheme will be available to self-pay patients not only through Novo’s direct-to-patient NovoCare Pharmacy service, but also via its retail and telehealth partners—like WeightWatchers, Costco, GoodRx and more—and with a digital savings card available on the Wegovy and Ozempic websites that can be redeemed at more than 70,000 U.S. pharmacies.
“The U.S. healthcare system is complex, with different types of insurance and various ways for patients to obtain their medicines,” Dave Moore, Novo’s executive vice president of U.S. operations, said in the announcement. “Our new savings offers provide immediate impact, bringing forward greater cost savings for those who are currently without coverage or choose to self-pay. It is part of a larger strategy to expand access that includes building relationships with telehealth providers and major retailers, expanding coverage, and working with the Administration to lower costs for people living with chronic diseases like obesity and Type 2 diabetes.”
Novo first debuted direct-to-patient sales of Wegovy in early March of this year, with the launch of NovoCare and the $499 monthly offer, which replaced a $650 savings card for self-pay patients. It added $499 Ozempic to the platform’s menu in August.
Lilly, too, has slashed prices of its Zepbound for cash-pay patients. The obesity med, which has a monthly list price of about $1,086, was first available on the LillyDirect DTC platform for either $399 or $549 per month, depending on the dosage, and those prices have since been cut by another $50 each.
In its own announcement about the White House deal earlier this month, Lilly said it will offer monthly supplies of Zepbound for between $299 and $449 per month and noted that it plans to introduce diabetes drugs Trulicity and Mounjaro to the LillyDirect service with discounts of between 50% and 60% off their list prices.
Editor's note: This story was updated to clarify the dosages included in the new self-pay prices for Wegovy and Ozempic.