The FDA is expected to approve Eli Lilly’s diabetes drug tirzepatide for weight loss in 2023, but there is little indication that insurers will cover the medication widely.
If an Eli Lilly drug for weight loss is approved, it could become the best-selling drug of all time, but questions are being raised about who will be able to afford it.
Experts believe the drug, tirzepatide, will be approved by the Food and Drug Administration sometime next year. If that is the case, it will join two other popular — and costly — recently approved weight loss drugs on the market, Wegovy and Saxenda, both from Novo Nordisk
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According to Bank of America analyst Geoff Meacham, annual sales of tirzepatide could reach a record $48 billion. Another Wall Street analyst, Colin Bristow of UBS, predicted that the drug would generate $25 billion in annual sales, which would still be more than the $20.7 billion set by AbbVie’s rheumatoid arthritis drug Humira in 2021.
Kelly Smith, an Eli Lilly spokesperson, declined to comment on the price of tirzepatide. According to outside experts, the drugmaker could price it similarly to Wegovy, which has a list price of around $1,500 for a month’s supply, and Saxenda, which has a list price of around $1,350 for a month’s supply.
If the FDA approves the drug, a “fair” price for tirzepatide could be around $13,000 per year, or around $1,100 per month, according to Dr. David Rind, chief medical officer for the Institute for Clinical and Economic Review, a research group that helps determine fair drug prices.
Clinical trials have shown that the drugs are highly effective for weight loss. All three drugs, which are administered via injection, work in the same way: They belong to a class of medications known as GLP-1 agonists, which mimic a hormone that helps reduce food intake and appetite.
However, Eli Lilly’s tirzepatide also mimics a second hormone called GIP, which may improve how the body breaks down sugar and fat in addition to reducing appetite.
