Ro to partner with Eli Lilly to offer vials of weight loss drug Zepbound | Wilnesh News

Direct-to-consumer healthcare startup Ro said Wednesday its platform will now offer more affordable services single dose vial Develop weight loss drug Zepbound through new partnerships with: Eli Lilly and Companydesigned to simplify access to popular treatments.

Ro said it will provide a “complete end-to-end” experience on a single platform and app, allowing eligible patients to receive Zepbound diagnostics and prescriptions, with vials delivered to their homes. This is achieved through the first-ever integration with Eli Lilly’s direct-to-consumer website, Lilly Directthe company has provided home delivery service of Zepbound medicine bottles through third-party digital pharmacies. gift health.

Gifthealth will distribute the vials to patients who receive a prescription for Zepbound through Ro-affiliated providers.

Zepbound vials are a cash-only product available through LillyDirect, meaning patients can pay for themselves with cash at a lower cost than auto-injector forms of the drug. Ro said the vials’ pre-insurance price is the “most affordable” among brand-name GLP-1 drugs. GLP-1, a class of drugs that mimic gut hormones to suppress appetite and regulate blood sugar, has seen a surge in demand over the past two years.

“Patients often have to go to multiple places to purchase Eli Lilly drugs, such as doctor’s offices and pharmacies,” Ro co-founder and CEO Zachariah Reitano told CNBC. “This integration really creates a seamless patient experience where they don’t have to go anywhere else. They have access to the doctor, lab and pharmacy, which will allow them to get Zepbound vials in one place.”

Ro runs a weight loss program that already prescribes Zepbound in a single-dose auto-injector pen that patients can inject directly under their skin with the click of a button. But this form of the drug is much more expensive than vials, costing about $1,000 a month before insurance.

The pre-insurance prices for single-dose vials of Zepbound are $399 and $549 per month for 2.5 mg and 5 mg, respectively, making the drug more accessible to people without insurance. Eli Lilly began offering the vials through LillyDirect in August.

“Whether you have insurance or whether you want the most affordable branded cash-on-demand GLP-1, which is Zepbound vials, you can get all of that through Ro,” Reitano said, noting that the company will help eligible patients Determine which drug is best for them based on their insurance.

He acknowledged that Zepbound’s monthly cost of about $400 to $500 “is still out of reach for many people, but is now well over” $1,000 or more.

The popularity of expensive treatments like Zepbound Novo NordiskThe weight-loss injection Wegovy is causing widespread shortages in the United States.

Still, cheaper compounded versions of GLP-1 are gaining traction due to limited supply of the brand-name drug. Eli Lilly is working to expand access to its Zepbound brand, a move that appears to be an effort to combat compounded versions of the drug.

The goal of the new integration is to “break down barriers and provide patients with safe and effective options they can trust,” Patrik Jonsson, president of Lilly’s cardiometabolic health business, said in a press release on Tuesday.

The FDA is currently reconsidering its decision to remove Zepbound from its drug shortage list following a lawsuit filed by a trade association representing compounding pharmacies. Removing Zepbound from the shortage list would essentially prevent compounding pharmacies from producing customized versions of the drug.

Reitano said that if that’s the end result, Luo “will comply with all applicable laws and guidance set forth by the FDA” and “work to ensure that our patients have access to the most effective products and the most affordable products.”