 "US President Donald Trump. (Photo: Reuters)")
US President Donald Trump on Thursday announced agreements with pharmaceutical giants Eli Lilly and Novo Nordisk to lower prices on some widely used weight-loss drugs.
According to The Guardian report, some GLP-1 weight-loss medications taken orally could now cost as little as $150 per month, pending FDA approval.
The move also means that Medicaid and Medicare will cover the cost of these obesity drugs, added the report.
Speaking about the announcement, Trump called it “a great day for American health and health care and for all of American patients,” but warned that a “negative decision” on the sweeping tariffs he has implemented – currently under consideration by the Supreme Court – could be “devastating.”
“During Covid, we made almost no medicine here. We had to go to China, we had to go to Ireland, we had to go to other places,” Trump was quoted as saying.
“Now we’re making it. We’ll soon be making it all here again, because of tariffs and my election,” he added.
The new generation of appetite-suppressing drugs, known as GLP-1 agonists and including brands such as Ozempic, Wegovy, and Mounjaro, have surged in popularity recently due to their effectiveness in aiding weight loss.
However, the drugs’ steep prices – often exceeding $1,000 per month in the United States – have raised widespread concerns.
The latest initiative aims to reduce the cost of starting oral doses of GLP-1s to roughly $150 for certain groups, a senior US official described as “roughly one-ninth of today’s list price.”
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More ShortsThis discounted price would be available to those on Medicare, Medicaid, or through the direct-to-consumer platform TrumpRx, the official added, though the cost for injectable versions would remain higher.
Trump has revived efforts from his first term to tackle drug prices, taking steps since returning to the White House to encourage pharmaceutical companies to voluntarily lower costs.
With inputs from agencies