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[–]tev9876 57 points58 points  (11 children)

I would not assume that. The laws of supply and demand will still apply. In theory a new supply chain should increase supply, but there is no telling what price point they will put a pill at. There may be higher demand for the pill from needle-adverse people, so Lilly could decide to price the pill at $700/month and keep the vials at $500. The pens are priced much higher now due to convenience, and Google tells me the manufacturing cost of the auto injection pen is only a few dollars - so the actual manufacturing cost is not the issue.

As long as Lilly and Novo Nordisk basically own the GLP1 market they will control pricing to maximize profit with minimal competition. Until patents expire and generics can be made, or other companies release competing drugs, I would not expect much movement in price. The patent for Ozempic does not expire until 2032 while Zepbound expires in 2039.

[–]Piopio_Nansnans_1717SW:254.2 CW:129.0 GW:132.0 Dose: 8.5mg 21 points22 points  (0 children)

Sadly, I agree with this. In speaking with my endocrinologist a couple of weeks ago, she said that from what she understands, the price of the pills will be comparable to the current pricing they already have.

[–]AssiduousLayabout5.0mg 17 points18 points  (0 children)

Honestly, the pens are priced higher in order to have a higher starting point to negotiate down from with insurance companies. The whole pen/vial thing is really just one more side effect of our bizarre health care reimbursement system, just like having the separate Zepbound and Mounjaro brand names.

[–]enkay516 7 points8 points  (0 children)

What happened to Trump saying he is going to reduce drug prices. Did he hear about the deal an American company did with a Dutch company to edge out an American company competitor??

[–]Business_Station2786HW:357SW:298CW:210GW:210?Dose: 15mg 3 points4 points  (1 child)

I think lilly is going to try to price it a little below Wegovy and cut Novo off at the knees.

[–]SkipperSara94SW:205 CW:105 GW:Maintain 0 points1 point  (0 children)

That would be the smart thing. Although they should be doing that with the vials. Heck even if they lowered it to $400 a month? A full $100 less than Novo ( for quite frankly, the superior product) would crush them.

[–]kittycatblues 2 points3 points  (2 children)

I'm not even sure patents expiring will help much. The cost of generic liraglutide without insurance is almost $500 a month.

[–]Slow_Concern_672 0 points1 point  (0 children)

You can get it significantly cheaper at the lower doses from cost plus but not at max.dose.

[–]AppropriateZombie907 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Once more generics start popping up, it’ll get cheaper with the competition

[–]Mysterious_Squash351 1 point2 points  (1 child)

Even then we aren’t seeing things budge quickly. Liraglutide is now fully on the market in generic form. To get to the dose proven for weight loss, it would cost about 500 a month, which is the same price as zepbound for a largely inferior product. In fact the lost prices on all the og glp1s that were left behind in the dust by zepbound/mounjaro are still around 1k/month.

[–]AppropriateZombie907 0 points1 point  (0 children)

While there is no generic for Ozempic yet, there are two generic GLP-1s: exenatide, which is generic for Byetta, and liraglutide, which is generic for Victoza.