US President Donald Trump announced on Thursday an agreement with pharmaceutical companies to reduce the prices of weight-loss medications such as Ozempic and Wegovy, and to increase coverage for these products in the Medicare and Medicaid health programs. The pact, reached with pharmaceutical companies Eli Lilly and Novo Nordisk, aims to make these medications more accessible. They have become popular in recent years among people seeking to lose weight, but Ozempic is also used to treat type 2 diabetes and other diseases. "This is very exciting because once again we are reducing drug prices to levels that no one thought possible," Trump said in the Oval Office accompanied by Health Secretary Robert Kennedy Jr. and pharmaceutical executives. According to him, the two pharmaceutical companies have committed to offering Wegovy and Zepbound, also for weight control, at "Most Favored Nation" rates, alluding to WTO norms. The prices for Ozempic and Wegovy will drop from $1,000 and $1,350 per month, respectively, to $350 if purchased through TrumpRx, the new initiative of the current US government to sell medications from certain pharmaceutical companies at a reduced price using the most-favored-nation mechanism. Additionally, a price of $150 was agreed upon for the initial dose of the oral version of GLP-1 medications, named so after a key intestinal hormone in the regulation of sugar and appetite, which are still in the trial phase. According to the explanatory statement of the agreement shared by the White House, this reduction will allow "Medicare and Medicaid to cover obesity medications for adults at a drastically lower cost to taxpayers." Beneficiaries of Medicare, the federal health program for people over 65, will be able to get these medications with a $50 copay per month. "This is a victory for American patients that will save lives and improve the health of millions of Americans," Trump said in the Oval Office when announcing the pact.
