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Eli Lilly has launched a program that will sell the popular Zepbound weight-loss drug directly to employer health plans, without going through pharmacy benefit managers.
The new access program will make Zepbound available to employers for $449 for a typical monthly supply.
Lilly is offering the program through a group of 15 independent program administrators.
Some of the administrators will offer no-frills access to Zepbound, and others will combine access to Zepbound with a package of services designed for people who are trying to lose weight, according to Lilly.
Zepbound: Zepbound contains tirzepatide, a drug that acts both as a GLP-1 agonist and as a GIP agonist.
In one study, people who took Zepbound lost an average of 50 pounds each.
Zepbound vs. Wegovy: The launch of the new Lilly program comes less than two weeks after Novo Nordisk announced that it will cut the list price, or wholesale acquisition price, of its three GLP-1 agonist weight-loss drugs — the Wegovy semaglutide injections, the Ozempic semaglutide injections and the Rybelsus tablets — to $675.
The change cut the cost of Wegovy by 50% and the cost of Ozempic by 35%.
The new announcements are part of a fierce fight between Lilly and Novo Nordisk over their share of the weight-loss drug market.
Novo Nordisk and Lilly wrestled in November 2025 over efforts to sell GLP-1s directly to employer plans.
The companies wrestled again in December 2025 by announcing price cuts.
The impact: About 5% of U.S. adults are now taking GLP-1 agonists in an effort to lose weight, according to an eHealth consumer survey.
The web broker found that 33% of U.S. adults would consider taking GLP-1s if the drugs were cheaper.
That means that increased sales of the drugs could help the manufacturers make up for revenue lost due to price cuts.
For employers, price cuts could mean a chance to see for themselves whether easy access to GLP-1 agonists really improves employees' health.
The actual costs: One question is how much the new GLP-1 moves affect what employers and employer plan participants pay for the drugs.
Novo Nordisk, for example, offers a coupon through TrumpRx.gov that may reduce the price of Wegovy to $199 for the first fill and $349 for later fills.
GoodRx shows that patients can now get their first Wegovy fill for $149 by using a Novo Nordisk direct sales website.
Those figures may be a sign that the GLP-1 prices companies like Lilly are putting in their new announcements are not the best prices that employers working with aggressive PBMs or other tough negotiators can get.
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