Lilly starts selling Zepbound in vials for cash, at $399 for the starting dose
Single-dose vials of tirzepatide went on sale through Lilly’s own online pharmacy, priced at roughly half the list price of the pen.
Who feels it
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Patients
Rethink
A cash option without insurance, but you draw the dose with a syringe and the higher doses were not yet offered.
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Sellers
Rethink
A maker selling direct at cash prices puts pressure on compounded copies.
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Prescribers
Adjust
You may need to show patients how to draw up a vial dose safely.
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Pharmacies
Worth knowing
Most of the volume goes through the maker’s channel, not the corner pharmacy.
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Payers
Worth knowing
Gives employers who do not cover obesity drugs a cheaper route to point people to.
What changed
Lilly began selling Zepbound in single-dose vials through LillyDirect, its online pharmacy service. The 2.5 mg starting dose cost $399 a month and the 5 mg dose $549, paid by the patient.
Why vials
A vial is cheaper to fill than an autoinjector pen. Selling it directly also cuts out the chain of wholesalers and pharmacy benefit managers that sit between list price and what patients pay.
The catch
- Only two strengths were offered at first, so people needing higher doses had no vial option yet.
- A vial means drawing up each dose with a syringe instead of clicking a pen.
- It is cash only; insurance does not apply.
The wider picture
This was the first time a maker of a GLP-1 obesity drug sold it this way at scale. It set a template that others followed within months, and made the gap between list price and cash price part of the daily news.
Source Eli Lilly press release, 27 August 2024
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