GLP-1 medications such as Wegovy, Mounjaro and Ozempic helped drive a 9% year-over-year increase in U.S. prescription dispensing revenue, which reached $683 billion in 2024.
A separate report found that among nonspecialty medications, there was a 6.3% increase in net cost from 2023 to 2024. Excluding GLP-1s, the increase would have been 3.5%.
Denmark-based drugmaker Novo Nordisk is in negotiations with CMS over the prices of Ozempic, Wegovy and Rybelsus, which have list prices between $900 and $1,300 per month. The three GLP-1 medications cost Medicaid Part D $14.4 billion for nearly 2.3 million beneficiaries from November 2023 to October 2024.
While the final negotiated prices are unknown, the first round of Part D drug negotiations yielded discounts ranging from 38% to 79%.
Here are three other updates on the GLP-1 drug class:
1. Telehealth: Leaders at Eli Lilly, which manufactures Zepbound and Mounjaro, said in June the company would work only with telehealth firms that stopped selling compounded versions of its GLP-1 medications. The move sidelined Hims & Hers, which partnered with Novo Nordisk in April to sell lower-cost versions of Wegovy.
On June 17, Mark Cuban Cost Plus Drug Co. announced a partnership with telehealth provider 9amHealth to offer discounted brand-name GLP-1s to self-insured employers.
2. FDA decision upheld: Two federal judges have backed the FDA’s decision to declare shortages of Zepbound, Mounjaro, Ozempic and Wegovy as resolved. This decision, which removed the medications from the FDA’s drug shortage database, restricted compounding pharmacies from legally making copycat versions. The move prompted pushback from the compounding industry.
In late April, the plaintiffs in the Eli Lilly case withdrew their appeal, and the case was dismissed May 2. In the Novo Nordisk case, a judge ruled June 17 that the FDA’s actions were appropriate.
3. Potential safety risk: Another study has found an association between semaglutide — the active ingredient of Ozempic and Wegovy — and neovascular age-related macular degeneration, a serious eye condition. Among more than 139,000 patients, the incidence was 0.2% for those taking GLP-1s compared to 0.1% in a control group.
A study published in summer 2024 found a similar risk association for a different eye condition: non-arteritic anterior ischemic optic neuropathy, which limits blood flow to the optic nerve and may cause sudden vision loss. Days later, two ophthalmology organizations stated that patients with Type 2 diabetes or obesity-related health risks already face elevated risk for the condition.
