CVS to spice up get right of entry to to Novo Nordisk’s weight reduction remedy Wegovy for sufferers on its drug plans

CVS Health on Thursday mentioned it’ll considerably enlarge get right of entry to to the blockbuster weight reduction drug Wegovy for sufferers lined via its pharmacy receive advantages supervisor, Caremark. 

Starting July 1, Caremark will prioritize Wegovy on its formularies — or lists of lined medicine — making it the most popular GLP-1 drug for weight problems. The transfer is a part of a brand new partnership between Caremark and Wegovy’s producer, Novo Nordisk, in step with CVS’ first-quarter income liberate.

It comes as Novo Nordisk works to spice up get right of entry to to Wegovy now that it’s not in brief provide within the U.S. Partnering with Caremark, one of the vital country’s greatest pharmacy receive advantages managers, may just assist the drugmaker succeed in much more sufferers.

Caremark reductions medicine with producers on behalf of insurance coverage and creates lists of medicines, or formularies, which might be lined via insurance coverage and reimburses pharmacies for prescriptions.

Caremark will make the drug to be had to its contributors at “a more affordable price.” The PBM negotiated a decrease web worth for Wegovy over its rival, Eli Lilly‘s weight reduction drug Zepbound, on its primary formularies, providing financial savings to purchasers that choose into the ones plans, a CVS spokesperson advised CNBC.

But Caremark’s purchasers, that are employers and unions, “individually determine how much of that savings on Wegovy gets shared with its members either via lower premiums or lower copays at the pharmacy counter,” the spokesperson mentioned. 

Separately, any affected person who does no longer have insurance policy for Wegovy or any other GLP-1 can nonetheless purchase Novo Nordisk’s drug out-of-pocket for $499 at any of CVS’ 9,000 pharmacies national, the spokesperson added. 

In its income liberate, CVS mentioned it’s the first retail pharmacy partnering with Novo Nordisk’s new direct-to-consumer on-line pharmacy, NovoCare, to dispense Wegovy to sufferers with prescriptions. NovoCare gives Wegovy at that cheaper price level to cash-paying sufferers, who might combat to shoulder the drug’s more or less $1,000 checklist worth earlier than insurance coverage and different rebates.

Caremark will even mix Wegovy with further way of life fortify, akin to customized vitamin plans, as a part of the CVS Weight Management program.

The announcement comes because the Danish drugmaker races to seize extra sufferers now that many compounding pharmacies are legally limited from making less expensive, unapproved variations of Wegovy, with uncommon exceptions.

Dave Moore, Novo Nordisk’s government vp of U.S. operations, mentioned in a separate liberate that “it is our responsibility to continue to work with others across the US healthcare system to find innovative opportunities to meet the needs of these patients and connect them with authentic, FDA-approved Wegovy … in a convenient and affordable way.”