The Eli Lilly & Co. logo at the company’s Digital Health Innovation Hub facility in Singapore, on Thursday, Nov. 14, 2024.
Ore Huiying | Bloomberg | Getty Images
Eli Lilly and Walmart on Wednesday said they have teamed up to expand access to the drugmaker’s weight loss drug Zepbound, allowing U.S. patients to get vials of the blockbuster injection at direct-to-consumer prices through retail locations for the first time.Â
The announcement comes as Eli Lilly works to maintain its dominance over rival Novo Nordisk in the booming market for a class of obesity and diabetes drugs called GLP-1s. It also comes as the Trump administration pressures drugmakers to make it easier for Americans to access medicines with a push for them to use direct-to-consumer models that eliminate middlemen.Â
Starting in mid-November, cash-paying patients with a prescription can purchase single-dose vials of Zepbound at discounts of 50% or more off their list price through the retailer’s locations or via home delivery. Walmart, which operates nearly 4,600 pharmacies across the U.S., will serve as the first in-store pickup pharmacy option for Zepbound vials through Eli Lilly’s direct-to-consumer cash-pay platform, LillyDirect.Â
It is LillyDirect’s first retail collaboration since it launched in January 2024, following partnerships with several telehealth companies. Eli Lilly did not provide an estimate of how much the Walmart offering will expand Zepbound’s reach. But Walmart’s nationwide footprint makes it the largest U.S. retailer, LillyDirect’s General Manager Jennifer Mazur told CNBC in an interview.
Walmart is the fifth-largest pharmacy in the U.S., according to its total prescription dispensing revenue in 2024. The partnership could help Eli Lilly keep its competitive edge over Novo Nordisk as the Danish drugmaker works to expand access to its weight loss drug Wegovy through a deal with CVS and its pharmacy benefit manager, Caremark.
Single-dose vials of Zepbound will cost $349 per month for the starting dose, and $499 per month for all other doses. That price point is consistent across LillyDirect’s home delivery or Walmart pickup options.Â
As to whether patients would choose pickup or delivery, Mazur said, “I think it’s all about individual people, their lifestyle and how they choose to access healthcare.”
“Our goal really is just to meet as many people where they are and give more choice, more convenience and continue to offer people price transparency,” she continued.Â
Mazur said LillyDirect has seen “tremendous uptake” with home delivery, but noted consumers could prefer to go in person because they have an established relationship with a local pharmacist or find it more convenient to pick up prescriptions at their neighborhood pharmacy.
LillyDirect shows progress
LillyDirect, which launched more than a year before Novo Nordisk’s own direct-to-consumer platform, has helped Eli Lilly gain ground over its rival.Â
Direct-to-consumer sales now account for more than a third of new prescriptions of Zepbound, Mazur said. She said the company hit an inflection point after August 2024, when Eli Lilly began to offer Zepbound vials for cash payment at more than 50% below the drug’s list price.
Mazur said Eli Lilly shares the Trump administration’s goal of making Food and Drug Administration-approved medicines more accessible and affordable for Americans.Â
“We look forward to continued collaboration with the administration to achieve our shared goals and will continue to innovate with LillyDirect,” she said.Â
President Donald Trump is working to strike drug pricing deals with pharmaceutical companies as part of his controversial “most favored nation” policy, which aims to link U.S. medicine prices to the lowest paid in other developed countries.Â
Trump has so far announced agreements with Pfizer, AstraZeneca and EMD Serono, the largest fertility drug manufacturer in the world, but not Eli Lilly.
