Latest news with #WendyBarnes
The Hill
2 days ago
- Business
- The Hill
Novo Nordisk, GoodRx selling Ozempic at half cost for customers paying cash
Novo Nordisk and GoodRx announced a partnership this week to sell products Ozempic and Wegovy at half their normal cost to patients who pay for the medications with cash. Starting this week, customers will be able to buy a month's supply of Novo Nordisk's semaglutide pen products for $499 through GoodRx. The list price for a monthly supply of a product like Ozempic is normally around $1,000 or more without insurance. 'Demand for GLP-1 medications is at an all-time high, but too many Americans still face barriers accessing them,' GoodRx CEO and President Wendy Barnes said in a statement. 'By partnering with Novo Nordisk, we're taking a significant step forward in making these innovative brand-name treatments more accessible for millions of people who need them,' added Barnes. 'It's a powerful example of how the GoodRx platform can deliver savings at scale—bridging gaps in coverage and ensuring more people can get the care they deserve.' This is the most recent in similar moves Novo Nordisk has made to make its popular diabetes and weight loss medication more widely available. Earlier this year, the company announced a direct-to-patient program called NovoCare® Pharmacy for uninsured and underinsured individuals who can pay $499 a month for Wegovy. Novo Nordisk also partnered with online telehealth companies like Ro and LifeMD to sell its pens at the same price point. The telehealth company Hims & Hers was also originally included in the partnership, but Novo Nordisk ended it after accusing the company of illegally selling compounded versions of semaglutide. Hims & Hers maintains it is providing personalized, compounded products within regulatory guidelines. 'Improving access to effective FDA-approved treatment is central to our mission, and our collaboration with GoodRx allows us to reach those who seek savings and support from their trusted and established platform,' Dave Moore, executive vice president of U.S. operations of Novo Nordisk, said in a statement. 'This initiative enables us to meet GoodRx patients where they are with our authentic GLP-1 medicines in addition to supporting the launch of the new Ozempic® self-pay offer for type 2 diabetes patients at an unprecedented price.' Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), a prominent critic of high drug costs, called the announcement a 'modest step forward.' 'Novo Nordisk's move to cut the price of Ozempic to $499 for the uninsured is a modest step forward, but let's not forget,' Sanders said on the social media platform X. 'Ozempic costs just $59 in Germany while it costs less than $5 to make. The U.S. must no longer pay the highest prices in the world for prescription drugs.
Bloomberg
3 days ago
- Business
- Bloomberg
GoodRx Expands Access to Ozempic
GoodRx shares soar after announcing the company's partnership with Novo Nordisk to slash the cost of Ozempic. GoodRx CEO Wendy Barnes tells Open Interest that the platform allows patients to get the best drug prices at retail pharmacies. (Source: Bloomberg)
Yahoo
3 days ago
- Business
- Yahoo
GoodRx CEO discusses GLP-1 deal with Novo Nordisk: What to know
GoodRx (GDRX) stock is skyrocketing after the company struck a deal with Novo Nordisk (NVO) to offer lower prices on GLP-1 drugs at over 70,000 US pharmacies. GoodRx president and CEO Wendy Barnes joins Market Catalysts host Julie Hyman and Yahoo Finance Senior Reporter Anjalee Khemlani to discuss the company's push for broader access to branded weight-loss medications. To watch more expert insights and analysis on the latest market action, check out more Market Catalysts. This is a really good uh result for the company uh shares of more than 30%. You guys haven't seen that kind of activity in quite some time. Obviously GLP1s are a really big deal. You everyone was sort of waiting to see how you were going to get into the race and I understand you took the company took its time. Talk to me about that timeline and and when you really started these negotiations with Novo. Sure. Um and good morning. Thank you for having me, Angie. It's good to see you. Um you know, we've been in conversations uh with with Novo and candidly all manufacturers for for quite some time. but our conversations with Novo Nordisk started well over a year ago thinking about um really um what an ideal program looks like for consumers. And as you mentioned, we were pretty purposeful and thoughtful. You know, there were a number of competitors who really jumped into um this particular disease state supporting compounded alternatives and that was something that we really had no interest in doing um both from a safety and efficacy standpoint, um which we take quite seriously. So as a result, for us, it was really all about these branded drugs and how we could secure an appropriate price point to make them more accessible and affordable uh for all the consumers that we service and that's really what we ended up doing uh with Novo over time that we're so pleased to be announcing today. um through us, you can really get it at pretty much any pharmacy. um in the US, 70,000 plus pharmacies um of your choosing depending on where your geography is. And you you can of course also get it through Novo Cares program, um where they have uh their own mail order pharmacy that they partner with as well. Yeah, I'm so glad you mentioned some of the other manufacturers as well. I know there's a lot of interest coming down the pike with other players. Obviously, just going to have to put you on the spot here with Lily being the main competitor, you would still have them as well as a partner. This is not an exclusive relationship. That's correct. To be clear, we don't have cash prices on Lily's GLP1 drugs, but we support their Lily Direct program through our platform as we do a multitude of manufacturer affordability programs. The distinction here of course is that Novo has extended a specific cash patient pay price that you can really with a good Rx coupon um obtain at any pharmacy. So that's the notable distinction between the two. So talk to me about the cash price. It's for the injectables. How confident are you that we're not going to really see um you know, more shortages down the line or that because it's the injectables and not the vial, you're going to have enough product. Sure. Well, you know, clearly we're reliant upon um the partnership with the manufacturer, but I based upon everything that they've told us and really everything that we've experienced in the market through our shared consumers, supply has really been um uh not much of a problem over the most recent few months, which is one of the reasons that the FDA um you know, changed um their position on compounded alternatives and they did that as a direct result of um support for manufacturers that there was a robust enough supply in the US to support the demand. I'm curious about this. You mentioned that you started this conversation more than a year ago and we've seen recently the Trump administration ask for more direct to consumer options. You've been building out the branded drug access. Talk to me about how this plays into sort of the administration policy desires and whether or not uh you know, the company can play a greater role in this and are you thinking about that? We're absolutely thinking about it. Um let me start first by saying, you know, as it pertains to Novo, their motivation in this partnership was squarely focused on ensuring that um patients could access the branded drug as opposed to the compounded alternative. So separate and distinct from anything um in the regulatory environment that may otherwise inspire a manufacturer to make these types of decisions. More broadly, however, as we think about what this administration is trying to do, whether it's direct to patient access, whether it's getting uh cash pricing and competitive prices into American Americans' hands, that absolutely um is something we're engaged in um and thinking about where we can play. We already have 90 plus brand partnerships with manufacturers whereby you can get them at a multitude of pharmacies. That really does meet the spirit of what this administration is trying to do as to the particular price point and whether or not that truly is an MFN price point or not, that really is in the decision of the manufacturers' hands as to how they go about conveying and choosing what price it is that they utilize through us. But we do believe that we already have this marketplace to support this type of initiative and mandate from the government and as such have been in those conversations uh with a number of legislators and agencies um in DC to that end.
Yahoo
3 days ago
- Business
- Yahoo
GoodRx begins selling Novo Nordisk GLP-1s for cash price
GoodRx (GDRX) is joining in on the GLP-1 action with an announcement on Monday that it will begin selling both of Novo Nordisk's (NVO) GLP-1 drugs, Ozempic for diabetes and Wegovy for weight loss, at a cash price of $499 per month. The partnership comes as telehealth and digital health platforms are increasingly viewed as ways to provide greater access to the in-demand products. GoodRx CEO Wendy Barnes told Yahoo Finance that while the company isn't first out of the gate with the strategy, it believes it's coming in at the right time. "There's no question we could have tried to do something sooner from a compounded alternative pathway, but we have been very clear in our belief that it needed to be FDA-approved, lawfully approved. It just wasn't a pathway that we were going to support," Barnes said. Telehealth platforms like Hims & Hers (HIMS) have recently been under pressure after Novo ended a relationship with them, when Hims refused to stop selling compounded, or copycat versions, of the GLP-1s. Compounded versions of the popular drugs have been on the market for several years, and were originally allowed by the FDA when Novo Nordisk and competitor Eli Lilly (LLY) were unable to meet the demand of the market for their GLP-1s. With the shortages declared over, the copycats are now illegal, but compounding pharmacies and their sellers claim to be lawfully selling them through a loophole in the law, known as personalized medicine. If a patient is unable to tolerate the side effects of a drug, a compounded version is often used. "There are very good reasons to use compounded medications, which are clinically appropriate and acceptable. That is not where things sit right in this class of drugs," Barnes said. The sales of the injectables through GoodRx also vary from Eli Lilly's strategy, which has been selling vials of its products on telehealth platforms to reach more patients faster. Vials are easier to produce than the injectable pens, which were a key reason behind the shortage in the past two years. GoodRx said it has seen surging demand for the GLP-1 products, with 17 million inquiries on its site for the drugs in the past year. That's up 22% from the year prior. The sale of Ozempic through GoodRx marks the first time the diabetes drug is being sold at a cash price, GoodRx said. GoodRx also sells Eli Lilly's drugs, Mounjaro (for diabetes) and Zepbound, through its regular pharmacy channels at regular prices. The announcement comes at a time when Novo Nordisk's weight-loss drug Wegovy is losing market share to Eli Lilly's Zepbound. The latest data, ending Aug. 8, shows weekly prescriptions for Zepbound up 199% year over year, compared to Wegovy's 40% increase, according to IQVIA, an analytics firm that tracks prescriptions in the US. To address its market share decline, Novo Nordisk has announced several strategies that include digital health. It also partnered with CVS (CVS) to be the preferred GLP-1 drug on CVS Caremark's formulary. Meanwhile, the Trump administration has demanded that drug companies use more direct-to-consumer avenues to sell products at cheaper cash prices to patients. Anjalee Khemlani is the senior health reporter at Yahoo Finance, covering all things pharma, insurance, provider services, digital health, PBMs, and health policy and politics. That includes GLP-1s, of course. Follow Anjalee as AnjKhem on social media platforms X, LinkedIn, and Bluesky @AnjKhem. Click here for in-depth analysis of the latest health industry news and events impacting stock prices Sign in to access your portfolio
Yahoo
3 days ago
- Business
- Yahoo
GoodRx stock soars after striking deal to sell Novo Nordisk's GLP-1s for $499/month
GoodRx (GDRX) is joining in on the GLP-1 action with an announcement on Monday that it will begin selling both of Novo Nordisk's (NVO) GLP-1 drugs, Ozempic for diabetes and Wegovy for weight loss, at a cash price of $499 per month. The partnership comes as telehealth and digital health platforms are increasingly viewed as ways to provide greater access to the in-demand products. GoodRx CEO Wendy Barnes told Yahoo Finance that while the company isn't first out of the gate with the strategy, it believes it's coming in at the right time. "There's no question we could have tried to do something sooner from a compounded alternative pathway, but we have been very clear in our belief that it needed to be FDA-approved, lawfully approved. It just wasn't a pathway that we were going to support," Barnes said. Telehealth platforms like Hims & Hers (HIMS) have recently been under pressure after Novo ended a relationship with them, when Hims refused to stop selling compounded, or copycat versions, of the GLP-1s. Compounded versions of the popular drugs have been on the market for several years, and were originally allowed by the FDA when Novo Nordisk and competitor Eli Lilly (LLY) were unable to meet the demand of the market for their GLP-1s. With the shortages declared over, the copycats are now illegal, but compounding pharmacies and their sellers claim to be lawfully selling them through a loophole in the law, known as personalized medicine. If a patient is unable to tolerate the side effects of a drug, a compounded version is often used. "There are very good reasons to use compounded medications, which are clinically appropriate and acceptable. That is not where things sit right in this class of drugs," Barnes said. The sales of the injectables through GoodRx also vary from Eli Lilly's strategy, which has been selling vials of its products on telehealth platforms to reach more patients faster. Vials are easier to produce than the injectable pens, which were a key reason behind the shortage in the past two years. GoodRx said it has seen surging demand for the GLP-1 products, with 17 million inquiries on its site for the drugs in the past year. That's up 22% from the year prior. The sale of Ozempic through GoodRx marks the first time the diabetes drug is being sold at a cash price, GoodRx said. GoodRx also sells Eli Lilly's drugs, Mounjaro (for diabetes) and Zepbound, through its regular pharmacy channels at regular prices. The announcement comes at a time when Novo Nordisk's weight-loss drug Wegovy is losing market share to Eli Lilly's Zepbound. The latest data, ending Aug. 8, shows weekly prescriptions for Zepbound up 199% year over year, compared to Wegovy's 40% increase, according to IQVIA, an analytics firm that tracks prescriptions in the US. To address its market share decline, Novo Nordisk has announced several strategies that include digital health. It also partnered with CVS (CVS) to be the preferred GLP-1 drug on CVS Caremark's formulary. Meanwhile, the Trump administration has demanded that drug companies use more direct-to-consumer avenues to sell products at cheaper cash prices to patients. Anjalee Khemlani is the senior health reporter at Yahoo Finance, covering all things pharma, insurance, provider services, digital health, PBMs, and health policy and politics. That includes GLP-1s, of course. Follow Anjalee as AnjKhem on social media platforms X, LinkedIn, and Bluesky @AnjKhem. Click here for in-depth analysis of the latest health industry news and events impacting stock prices Error in retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data
