Novo Nordisk Adds Ozempic to Direct-to-Consumer Offerings, at $499 Per Month. Why GoodRx Stock Spikes.

Novo Nordisk is making Ozempic available directly to consumers for the first time. (AFP via Getty Images)

Novo Nordisk said Monday it would begin selling its Type 2 diabetes treatment Ozempic directly to consumers at $499 per month, half the U.S. list price of the medicine.

It is just the latest direct-to-consumer offering from Big Pharma. Drugmakers are embracing the strategy in an effort to satisfy the Trump administration’s demand to lower U.S. drug prices.

Branded prescription medicines like Ozempic are generally sold through a complex chain of intermediaries in the U.S., including pharmacy-benefit managers and retail pharmacies. Drug executives are increasingly enthusiastic about selling more drugs straight to consumers as they seek ways to ease pressure from the White House on lower U.S. drug prices, Barron’s reported last week.

Novo already offers its obesity treatment Wegovy for $499 a month to customers who pay cash. Ozempic, the brand name under which the same drug is sold as Type 2 diabetes treatment, has a less obvious cash-pay market. While insurance coverage for Wegovy is spotty, Novo says that 98% of insured patients have access to Ozempic.

The company said that the new direct-to-consumer Ozempic offer was meant for diabetes patients who are uninsured. “We have excellent insurance coverage for Ozempic, but we know there are still people in the US who cannot access this medicine to manage their Type 2 diabetes,” Novo’s executive vice president for U.S. operations, Dave Moore, said. “This offer is specifically for those individuals.”

In addition to selling Ozempic at the lower cash price through its own in-house telehealth storefront, Novo said it would also make the drug available through the drug discount website GoodRx . Shares of GoodRx were up 29% on Monday.

GoodRx offers coupons for reduced prescription drug prices at retail pharmacies. The company says patients will be able to use GoodRx to self-pay for both Ozempic and Wegovy at the $499-per-month price at 70,000 U.S. retail pharmacies.

Novo’s American depositary receipt was up 4.5% on Monday. Late Friday, the Food and Drug Administration expanded Wegovy’s U.S. label.

The launch of self-pay Ozempic is an acceleration of a trend toward direct-to-consumer sales of branded prescription drugs that started last year with Eli Lilly’s Zepbound.

While Ozempic’s list price is lower than Wegovy’s list price, Novo set the same $499-per-month cash price for both, likely to avoid Wegovy patients hopping to Ozempic.

On an Aug. 7 investor call, analysts asked Novo leaders about the potential price of direct-to-consumer Ozempic. Moore, the head of U.S. operations for the company, said that the prices wouldn’t be meaningfully different because Ozempic “does participate in the obesity market, even if not by design.”

Write to Josh Nathan-Kazis at josh.nathan-kazis@barrons.com and Nate Wolf at nate.wolf@barrons.com