Novo Nordisk Slashes Wegovy and Ozempic Cash Prices as Trump Drug Deal Kicks In

CNBC, CNN, AP, Bloomberg, Reuters, and USA Today contributed to this report.

Novo Nordisk is cutting prices on its wildly popular weight-loss and diabetes shots, stepping up a price war in the booming GLP-1 drug market and responding to pressure from President Donald Trump’s administration to make the medicines more affordable.

The Danish drugmaker said Monday it is lowering the direct-to-consumer price of Wegovy (for obesity) and Ozempic (for diabetes, also widely used off-label for weight loss) for existing cash-paying patients to $349 a month, down from $499. The exception: the highest 2 mg dose of Ozempic, which will stay at $499.

On top of that, Novo rolled out a temporary starter deal:

• New cash-pay patients can get the two lowest doses of Wegovy or Ozempic for $199 a month for their first two months of treatment.
• After that, they roll onto the new $349 monthly price.
• The introductory offer runs through March 31.

These are list prices for people paying out of pocket and buying directly from the company or through select partners.

The timing is no accident.

The move comes just days after President Trump announced deals with Novo Nordisk and its main rival Eli Lilly to bring down the cost of their blockbuster GLP-1 drugs and expand access.

Those agreements include:

• Lower prices for the federal government on GLP-1 drugs.
• Medicare coverage of obesity drugs for the first time for certain patients.
• A new direct-to-consumer government platform, TrumpRx, launching in January, where discounted prices will be available to both federal programs and cash-paying consumers.

Under the TrumpRx framework:

• Starter doses of injections like Wegovy and Lilly’s Zepbound will start around $350 a month, then “trend down” to about $245 over two years.
• If pill versions of these GLP-1 drugs win FDA approval, their lowest doses are expected to be priced at $149 a month for Medicare, Medicaid, and cash payers via TrumpRx.

Novo’s decision to cut prices ahead of that January timeline is being framed as a bridge to those lower, government-negotiated prices.

Novo’s discounted cash-pay offers for Wegovy and Ozempic are available through:

• Wegovy.com and Ozempic.com
• The company’s direct-to-consumer pharmacy, NovoCare
• Retail and telehealth partners, including Costco, GoodRx, WeightWatchers, Ro, LifeMD, eMed, and tens of thousands of pharmacies that work with those platforms.

GoodRx, for example, is pairing the new prices with a telehealth weight-loss service that will cost $39 a month for early subscribers before later rising for new customers.

Novo’s move also has a very clear competitive angle.

The company has been under growing pressure from:

• Eli Lilly, whose obesity drug Zepbound has shown slightly better results in some trials and has been aggressively marketed through Lilly’s own direct-to-consumer channel, LillyDirect.
• Compounding pharmacies and telehealth startups, which have been selling lower-priced, copycat versions of semaglutide (the active ingredient in Wegovy and Ozempic) when branded products were in short supply.

Following the Trump deal:

• Lilly said it would cut prices by $50 a month on LillyDirect.
• Zepbound’s lowest dose will run $299 a month, with higher doses up to $449 for cash payers.

Novo is now undercutting or matching those offers at key doses:

• $199 for the first two months at the lowest doses of Wegovy and Ozempic.
• $349 per month standard cash price after that for most doses, matching Lilly’s lower Zepbound tier and undercutting its higher doses.

Dave Moore, Novo Nordisk’s head of US operations, framed the cuts as both a competitive play and a way to pull people away from gray-market products.

“People can start to make the move from the compounded fake copies back to the branded medicines,” he said, arguing that prices are now “not too different” from some compounded options.

Even with the price cuts, Wegovy and Ozempic won’t exactly be cheap for people paying out of pocket.

List prices for GLP-1s typically run $1,000–$1,350 a month, though insured patients often pay far less. Many Americans, however, still don’t have coverage for weight-loss versions like Wegovy, even if they can get Ozempic for diabetes.

A recent KFF poll found:

• About 1 in 8 adults say they’re currently using a GLP-1 drug.
• Roughly half of users said it’s hard to afford their medication.
• Cost is one of the most common reasons people stop taking the drugs.

Health-policy experts point out that while dropping the cash price from $499 to $349 (or $199 at the start) is meaningful on paper, it may not be enough for many households.

“It’s not going to really move the needle for a person who doesn’t have a pretty reasonable amount of disposable income,” one drug-pricing expert noted in earlier commentary on GLP-1 costs.

Doctors echo that concern. In states where Medicaid doesn’t cover obesity treatment, patients relying on public insurance are unlikely to benefit unless coverage rules change.

That’s where the Trump deals could matter most.

Starting next year, under the administration’s agreement:

• Medicare will begin covering GLP-1 weight-loss drugs like Wegovy and Zepbound for people with severe obesity or those who are overweight/obese with serious health problems.
• Eligible patients would see copays around $50 instead of paying full freight.
• The lower negotiated prices are also expected to flow through to Medicaid, which could expand access for lower-income patients.

Novo says Medicaid programs in about 20 states already cover Wegovy for obesity and expects that “around 40 million more Americans” could gain access as Medicare and Medicaid coverage broadens.

“Our new savings offers provide immediate impact, bringing forward greater cost savings for those who are currently without coverage or choose to self-pay,” Moore said.

He called the discounts part of a larger access strategy that includes telehealth partnerships, retail collaborations and policy work with the administration.

Novo Nordisk is:

• Cutting cash prices for Wegovy and Ozempic to $349 a month for most doses.
• Offering $199 starter pricing for the first two months at lower doses.
• Moving ahead of the TrumpRx launch and formal government price cuts set for early next year.
• Trying to win back market share from Eli Lilly and compounding pharmacies while heading off criticism that GLP-1 drugs are only for the wealthy.

For patients, the new prices may help some who are already paying out of pocket. But the biggest shift in who can actually afford these drugs will likely come not just from lower list prices — but from who gets coverage under Medicare, Medicaid, and private insurers in the months and years ahead.