Eli Lilly and Walmart to offer discounted retail option for Zepbound

Elie Lilly And Walmart On Wednesday, they said they had teamed up to expand access to the pharmaceutical maker’s weight-loss drug, Zepbound, allowing U.S. patients to obtain vials of the blockbuster injection at direct-to-consumer prices at retail locations for the first time.

This announcement comes as Eli Lilly strives to maintain its dominance over its rival. Novo Nordisk in the booming market for a class of obesity and diabetes drugs called GLP-1. It also comes as the Trump administration is pressuring drugmakers to make it easier for Americans to access medicines by incentivizing them to use direct-to-consumer models that cut out middlemen.

Starting in mid-November, cash-paying patients with a prescription can purchase single-dose vials of Zepbound at discounts of 50% or more off their list price at the retailer’s stores or through home delivery. Walmart, which operates nearly 4,600 pharmacies in the United States, will provide the first in-store pickup option for Zepbound vials through Eli Lilly’s direct-to-consumer cash payment platform, LillyDirect.

This is LillyDirect’s first retail collaboration since its launch in January 2024, following partnerships with several telehealth companies. Eli Lilly did not provide an estimate of how much the Walmart offering will expand Zepbound’s reach. But Walmart’s national presence makes it the largest U.S. retailer, Jennifer Mazur, chief executive of LillyDirect, told CNBC in an interview.

Walmart is the fifth-largest pharmacy in the United States, based on total prescription dispensing revenue in 2024. The partnership could help Eli Lilly maintain its competitive edge over Novo Nordisk as the Danish pharmaceutical maker works to expand access to its weight-loss drug Wegovy through a deal with CVS and its pharmacy benefit manager, Caremark.

Single-dose vials of Zepbound will cost $349 per month for the initial dose and $499 per month for all other doses. This price point is consistent across all of LillyDirect’s home delivery or Walmart pickup options.

As for whether patients would choose pickup or delivery, Mazur said, “I think it all depends on each person and their lifestyle and how they choose to access health care. »

“Our goal is simply to meet as many people where they are, give them more choice, more convenience and continue to give people price transparency,” she continued.

Mazur said LillyDirect has had “tremendous success” with home delivery, but noted that consumers might prefer to go there in person because they have an established relationship with a local pharmacist or find it more convenient to pick up their prescriptions at their neighborhood pharmacy.

LillyDirect, which launched Novo Nordisk’s direct-to-consumer platform more than a year before, helped Eli Lilly gain ground on its rival.

Direct-to-consumer sales now account for more than a third of Zepbound’s new prescriptions, Mazur said. She said the company reached an inflection point after August 2024, when Eli Lilly began offering Zepbound vials for cash at more than 50% below the drug’s list price.

Mazur said Eli Lilly shares the Trump administration’s goal of making Food and Drug Administration-approved drugs more accessible and affordable for Americans.

“We look forward to continuing to work with the administration to achieve our shared goals and will continue to innovate with LillyDirect,” she said.

President Donald Trump is pushing to reach drug pricing deals with pharmaceutical companies under his controversial “most favored nation” policy, which aims to tie U.S. drug prices to the lowest-paid prices in other developed countries.

Trump has so far announced deals with Pfizer, AstraZeneca and EMD Serono, the world’s largest maker of fertility drugs, but not Eli Lilly.