Eli Lilly will begin offering vials of its best-selling
Patients could previously only get vials of Zepbound, typically sold in an autoinjector pen, through Lilly's direct-to-consumer site, LillyDirect. To bolster supplies of the wildly popular medicines amid a nationwide shortage and to offer a more
With vials, patients need to fill syringes on their own, but Lilly can sell them for about half the list price of shots.
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The availability of vials on Ro's platform will "help ensure broader availability of rigorously tested, FDA-approved and regulated obesity treatment," Patrik Jonsson, president of Lilly Cardiometabolic Health, said in a statement.
Patients have flocked to Ro and dozens of other telehealth companies to get prescriptions for popular weight-loss shots like Zepbound. Ro, a startup valued at $7 billion, offers name-brand shots as well as copycat versions made by compounding pharmacies for a fraction of the price.
Ro runs a subscription-based program where users pay $145 each month for access to a provider who can write a prescription for a weight-loss drug. Zepbound vials won't be the cheapest option for Ro customers. A compounded version of Novo Nordisk A/S's Wegovy, a competitor to Zepbound, costs just $254 a month. Zepbound vials will be priced the same as what Lilly sells them for — $399 for a month's supply of the 2.5 milligram dose and $549 for the 5 milligram dose.
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Ro has "no financial arrangement" with Lilly, Chief Executive Officer Zach Reitano said in an interview. Ro isn't making any money off the vials, he said.
Hundreds of thousands of Americans have been taking compounded versions of drugs from Lilly and rival Novo, likely generating as much as $1 billion in annual sales for compounding pharmacies, according to bankers who work with the industry. Compounding pharmacies are allowed to make copies of drugs that are in shortage, but there are drawbacks. For one, they aren't reviewed by regulators for safety and effectiveness like brand-name or generic versions.
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Lilly and Novo have both mounted legal campaigns against businesses that sell compounded versions of their drugs. Both companies have invested heavily in manufacturing to boost supply of their shots and have tried to limit compounded versions of the drugs, raising concerns about quality and saying some were contaminated with bacteria or chemical impurities. Compounders have said they follow regulations and make high-quality drugs.
Ro CEO Reitano said customers report Zepbound's availability has improved, while the supply situation with Wegovy remains difficult.
