Eli Lilly, Walmart to offer first retail pickup option for discounted vials of weight loss drug Zepbound

Eli Lilly and Walmart connected Wednesday said they person teamed up to grow access to the drugmaker's value nonaccomplishment cause Zepbound, allowing U.S. patients to get vials of the blockbuster injection astatine direct-to-consumer prices done retail locations for the archetypal time. 

The announcement comes arsenic Eli Lilly works to support its dominance implicit rival Novo Nordisk successful the booming marketplace for a people of obesity and diabetes drugs called GLP-1s. It besides comes arsenic the Trump medication pressures drugmakers to marque it easier for Americans to entree medicines with a propulsion for them to usage direct-to-consumer models that destruct middlemen. 

Starting successful mid-November, cash-paying patients with a medicine tin acquisition single-dose vials of Zepbound astatine discounts of 50% oregon much disconnected their database terms done the retailer's locations oregon via location delivery. Walmart, which operates astir 4,600 pharmacies crossed the U.S., volition service arsenic the archetypal in-store pickup pharmacy enactment for Zepbound vials done Eli Lilly's direct-to-consumer cash-pay platform, LillyDirect. 

It is LillyDirect's archetypal retail collaboration since it launched successful January 2024, pursuing partnerships with respective telehealth companies. Eli Lilly did not supply an estimation of however overmuch the Walmart offering volition grow Zepbound's reach. But Walmart's nationwide footprint makes it the largest U.S. retailer, LillyDirect's General Manager Jennifer Mazur told CNBC successful an interview.

Walmart is the fifth-largest pharmacy successful the U.S., according to its full medicine dispensing gross successful 2024. The concern could assistance Eli Lilly support its competitory borderline implicit Novo Nordisk arsenic the Danish drugmaker works to grow entree to its value nonaccomplishment cause Wegovy done a woody with CVS and its pharmacy payment manager, Caremark.

Single-dose vials of Zepbound volition outgo $349 per period for the starting dose, and $499 per period for each different doses. That terms constituent is accordant crossed LillyDirect's location transportation oregon Walmart pickup options. 

As to whether patients would take pickup oregon delivery, Mazur said, "I deliberation it's each astir idiosyncratic people, their manner and however they take to entree healthcare."

"Our extremity truly is conscionable to conscionable arsenic galore radical wherever they are and springiness much choice, much convenience and proceed to connection radical terms transparency," she continued. 

Mazur said LillyDirect has seen "tremendous uptake" with location delivery, but noted consumers could similar to spell successful idiosyncratic due to the fact that they person an established narration with a section pharmacist oregon find it much convenient to prime up prescriptions astatine their vicinity pharmacy.

LillyDirect, which launched much than a twelvemonth earlier Novo Nordisk's ain direct-to-consumer platform, has helped Eli Lilly summation crushed implicit its rival. 

Direct-to-consumer income present relationship for much than a 3rd of caller prescriptions of Zepbound, Mazur said. She said the institution deed an inflection constituent aft August 2024, erstwhile Eli Lilly began to connection Zepbound vials for currency outgo astatine much than 50% beneath the drug's database price.

Mazur said Eli Lilly shares the Trump administration's extremity of making Food and Drug Administration-approved medicines much accessible and affordable for Americans. 

"We look guardant to continued collaboration with the medication to execute our shared goals and volition proceed to innovate with LillyDirect," she said. 

President Donald Trump is moving to onslaught cause pricing deals with pharmaceutical companies arsenic portion of his arguable "most favored nation" policy, which aims to nexus U.S. medicine prices to the lowest paid successful different developed countries. 

Trump has truthful acold announced agreements with Pfizer, AstraZeneca and EMD Serono, the largest fertility cause shaper successful the world, but not Eli Lilly.