Pharmaceutical First: Eli Lilly Website Will Prescribe Weight Loss Drugs Through Service

TOPLINE

Drugmaker Eli Lilly has launched a new website specifically for prescribing weight loss drugs through a telehealth service less than a month after the company’s new injectable, Zepbound, became available in U.S. pharmacies for overweight or obese adults.

KEY FACTS

Called LillyDirect, the new website is the first of its kind from a pharmaceutical company and will allow telehealth providers to prescribe GLP-1 agonist drugs for weight loss, like Lilly’s Zepbound and Mounjaro or Novo Nordisk’s Ozempic and Wegovy.

The doctors working with LillyDirect will be able to prescribe any FDA-approved weight loss drug, but only patients who are prescribed the company’s Zepbound medication will be eligible for the at-home delivery service, Lilly CEO David Ricks told NBC News.

The website can be used by people who have a BMI of at least 30, or of at least 27 if they also have at least one weight-related medical condition, according to NBC, and will also serve patients with diabetes and migraines.

Other websites, like WeightWatchers, Noom and Found, also offer online prescriptions for semaglutide, the generic name for the medication that lowers the blood sugar and suppresses appetite, but LillyDirect is the first pharmaceutical company to do so.

Eli Lilly has said it is against the use of Mounjaro and Zepbound for “cosmetic weight loss,” Reuters reported, and supports use for their approved purposes.

BIG NUMBER

$1,000. A month’s supply of injectable weight loss drugs can cost patients more than $1,000 when it is not covered by insurance.

KEY BACKGROUND

The popularity of using diabetes drugs for weight loss has been on the rise since 2021, according to USA Today, spurred by the approval of Novo Nordisk’s Wegovy that year. The drugs change how bodies respond when blood sugar rises and their active ingredient, semaglutide, increases the feeling of satiety to reduce appetite. A 2022 Mayo Clinic study found that people who received weekly semaglutide injections for six months lost, on average, 27 pounds, but experts warn the medications are meant for long term use and should not be seen as a quick solution to shed extra pounds.

CRUCIAL QUOTE

The widespread use of drugs in the GLP-1 agonist class for weight loss has been criticized by some scientists and former users. Lab studies have linked the medications with thyroid tumors in rodents, according to the Mayo Clinic, and the long-term effects of the medications are still largely unknown. The manufacturers of Ozempic and Mounjaro, Novo Nordisk and Eli Lilly, were sued this summer over claims the medications cause gastroparesis, a severe stomach disorder. Some former users, including TikTok influencer Remi Bader, have been honest about severe weight gain after stopping the medication. Bader said the drug made her binge eating “so much worse” and said she gained back twice the weight she lost after getting off Ozempic. Actress Amy Schumer said she felt “so sick” while on weight loss medication.

TANGENT

The popularity of the diabetes and weight loss drugs in recent years has sent pharmaceutical stock prices through the roof. Shares of Eli Lilly and Novo Nordisk hit record highs in August following a surge in sales and promising clinical trials, respectively. Eli Lilly has become the most valuable pharmaceutical company in the world, surpassing Pfizer’s market cap in 2022 and Johnson & Johnson last year, and the success of drugs Zepbound and Mounjaro are expected to help the company “dominate the landscape in 2024,” according to a note from BMO analyst Evan Seigerman.