The news: Eli Lilly is offering cash-pay pricing for its weight loss drug Zepbound at Walmart
- The self-pay price applies to Zepbound vials (not the more commonly used injector pen) and ranges from $349 to $499 per month, depending on the dose.
- To access reduced-price Zepbound, patients must still have their prescription routed through Lilly’s direct-to-consumer (D2C) portal, LillyDirect. But they can now choose to pick up their medication at a Walmart pharmacy rather than have it delivered to their home.
What it means for Lilly: While Lilly’s GLP-1 rival Novo Nordisk has dropped the cash-pay price of Ozempic and Wegovy at tens of thousands US pharmacies, this is the first time Lilly has offered a retail pharmacy pick-up option to customers who order Zepbound through LillyDirect.
- Zepbound has been available at a discount through LillyDirect and the drugmaker’s telehealth partners, like Ro.
- That reach now extends to 4,600 Walmart pharmacies.
Lilly has had early success in capturing patients in the D2C market who can’t use health insurance for their GLP-1 prescription.
What it means for Walmart: Walmart will soon be the only retail pharmacy where customers paying cash for Novo’s and Lilly’s GLP-1 weight loss drugs can pick up their prescriptions.
This will help the company benefit from increased foot traffic as more of Lilly’s customers enter its stores. The offering adds to Walmart’s recent moves to make its pharmacy services more appealing to customers, including letting shoppers add prescription medications to same-day delivery online orders.
A key caveat: Unlike Novo’s tie-ups with retail pharmacies where consumers can purchase the prescription from the pharmacy itself, it appears that Zepbound patients must pay through LillyDirect, but can pick up their medication at a Walmart store. A Lilly spokesperson could not confirm if Walmart or Lilly gets payment for the medication when it’s picked up at a Walmart pharmacy.
It’s a subtle, yet important difference since Walmart might not be making any money from the prescription sale. Still, the pickup option will benefit customers who prefer going to a nearby pharmacy over the risks of medication home delivery, such as shipping delays, temperature issues, or lost packages.
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