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President Trump announces deal to reduce cost of weight loss drugs
President Trump delivered remarks from the Oval Office, announcing a deal with pharmaceutical manufacturers Eli Lilly and Novo Nordisk to reduce the cost of certain popular weight loss drugs. The press conference ended abruptly after one of the participants experienced a medical episode.
The Food and Drug Administration granted expedited approval Wednesday to Eli Lilly’s new GLP-1 weight loss pill.
The drug is orforglipron, an oral GLP-1 drug that works like its injectable counterparts. It will be branded as Foundayo. Here’s the latest:
When will Foundayo be available?
Timeline: The drug is expected to begin shipping Monday, according to Eli Lilly.
Foundayo’s cost
By the numbers:
The company said people with insurance may be able to get the drug starting at $25 per month with a Lilly discount card. Prices for people paying cash will range between $149 per month to $349 per month, depending on the dose.
RELATED: CVS Caremark faces class-action lawsuit over Zepbound, Wegovy coverage
According to The New York Times, Medicare is expected to cover the drug for some patients at a co-pay of $50 a month. Some private insurance plans will also likely cover Foundayo. The pill from Indianapolis-based Lilly will be included in a Trump administration deal to lower prices on GLP-1 drugs.
Orforglipron trials
Dig deeper:
In a clinical trial of more than 3,000 adults with obesity, participants who received the highest dose of orforglipron, 36 milligrams, lost 11.2% of their body weight –- about 25 pounds on average –- over more than 16 months. That compared with a 2.1% weight loss, or less than 5 pounds, in patients who received a placebo, or dummy pill, according to the New England Journal of Medicine.
FILE - Eli Lilly logo (Photo Illustration by Sheldon Cooper/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images)
Orforglipron users also saw improvements in waist circumference, blood pressure, triglyceride levels and cholesterol levels, the study found.
Side effects, mostly gastrointestinal issues, led between 5% and 10% of participants in the orforglipron study to discontinue treatment, compared with nearly 3% in the placebo group.
Foundayo v. Wegovy pill
Big picture view:
The new pill joins drugmaker Novo Nordisk’s oral Wegovy pill, which has spurred more than 600,000 prescriptions in the United States since it was approved in December.
Both the Lilly and Novo Nordisk pills resulted in less weight loss than the average achieved with Lilly’s injectable Zepbound, which results in a 21% average weight loss, or Novo Nordisk’s injectable Wegovy, which averages about 15%.
RELATED: Wegovy daily pill Is here: How to get it and what it costs
Both once-daily pills promise convenience, but orforglipron is a small-molecule GLP-1 drug that can be taken without restrictions. The Wegovy pill, a peptide, must be taken with a sip of water in the morning on an empty stomach, with a 30-minute wait before eating or drinking.
About 1 in 8 people in the U.S. have used injectable GLP-1 drugs, according to a survey from KFF, a nonprofit health policy research group. But many more have trouble affording the costly shots.
What they're saying:
"Today, fewer than 1 in 10 people who could benefit from a GLP-1 are taking one, held back by access, stigma, perceived complexity or the belief that their condition isn't serious enough for treatment. We believe Foundayo can help level the playing field for those living with obesity or who are overweight and living with weight-related complications," David A. Ricks, chair and CEO of Eli Lilly and Company, said in a statement. "As a convenient, once-daily oral pill that delivers meaningful weight loss, this is obesity care designed for the real world."
How do GLP-1 drugs work?
The backstory:
GLP-1s is a class of drugs that include semaglutide (Ozempic, Wegovy, Wegovy pill), tirzepatide (Mounjaro and Zepbound), and now orforglipron (Foundayo). They were initially prescribed to treat Type 2 diabetes, but have soared in popularity because of weight loss. Wegovy, Zepbound and Foundayo are FDA approved for weight loss, while Ozempic and Mounjaro are approved for Type 2 diabetes.
The drugs work by mimicking the actions of hormones, found primarily in the gut, that kick in after people eat. The hormones help regulate blood sugar by triggering the pancreas to release insulin, another hormone, and slowing the release of sugar from the liver. People who are overweight or have obesity can become insulin-resistant, which means the body doesn’t respond to insulin properly.
The obesity drugs lower blood sugar and slow down digestion, so people feel full longer. They also affect signals in the brain linked to feelings of fullness and satisfaction, tamping down appetite, food-related thoughts and cravings.
Because people feel full longer, they eat less and lose weight.
However, it appears that if people taking the drugs stop, most regain the weight they lost — and the health problems that come with weight gain.
The Source: This report includes information from Eli Lilly, The New York Times and The Associated Press.