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Millions more Americans could access obesity drugs after Trump’s deals with Eli Lilly, Novo Nordisk
US President Donald Trump makes an announcement in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington, DC on Nov. 6, 2025.
Andrew Caballero-Reynolds | AFP | Getty Images
President Donald Trump on Thursday struck landmark deals with Eli Lilly and Novo Nordisk that could mark a turning point in how many people can access their costly blockbuster obesity drugs.
Under the agreements, Medicare will start covering GLP-1s for obesity for certain patients for the first time beginning in mid-2026 – a shift that will open access to millions of older adults and could spur more employers and other private insurers to follow suit, some experts said. Novo Nordisk and Eli Lilly are also lowering the prices that all state Medicaid programs will pay for GLP-1s, but it’s up to states to opt into coverage.
Obesity drug coverage among state Medicaid plans, employers and other private insurers remains spotty due to the $1,000 or more monthly list prices of existing GLP-1s, including Eli Lilly’s obesity injection Zepbound and Novo Nordisk’s competitor Wegovy.
The limited insurance coverage has blocked out patients who can’t afford their hefty price tags. That lack of access has led to mounting pressure on health plans and the government to expand coverage — and the government agreements with drugmakers could mark a major shift.
“I think it’ll start with the government, start with Medicare, and the insurers will quickly follow,” Nick Fabrizio, an associate teaching professor in Cornell’s health policy program, told CNBC. “I do think that’s coming.”
“This is a great step towards trying to address a chronic and serious issue, and for those patients who may feel like they have no hope,” he said.
Roughly 8 to 9 million people in the U.S. are using GLP-1s, Eli Lilly CEO David Ricks said at a briefing with reporters on Thursday. The added Medicare coverage under the deal could bring in as many as 40 million new eligible patients, and prompt more commercial plans to cover the medicines, he said.
The deals could also address the inability of many patients with limited or no insurance coverage for obesity drugs to access them, by offering the treatments at a discount on the Trump administration’s direct-to-consumer website, TrumpRx.gov.
The monthly out-of-pocket cost of existing injections and upcoming pills could range from $50 to $350 starting next year, depending on the dosage and insurance coverage a patient has.
Still, there is a law prohibiting Medicare from covering weight loss drugs, so any changes would have to come from Congress. Eli Lilly’s Ricks told reporters Thursday that for now, the government will launch an initial pilot program in the spring of 2026 under a temporary legal mechanism. It would be voluntary for Medicare prescription drug plans, so “it may be possible that a few plans do not participate, but I would expect almost all do,” he said.
But Ricks said that it will transition into a formal so-called Center for Medicare and Medicaid Innovation pilot program in 2027, which means it will be mandatory for all Medicare Part D plans.
“So we expect broad coverage in all plans both in 2026 and beyond,” he said.
Medicare coverage could be a sea change
Likely the most notable feature of the deals is Medicare coverage of obesity drugs, as it will allow the treatments to reach new patients in the program and could lead to broader private insurance coverage.
Under the deals, Eli Lilly and Novo Nordisk agreed to cut the price Medicare and Medicaid pay for GLP-1s to $245 per month. In Medicare specifically, certain patients will pay a copay of $50 per month for all approved uses of injectable and oral GLP-1 drugs, including diabetes and obesity treatment.
But the Trump administration is putting some constraints on which Medicare beneficiaries will be eligible to receive GLP-1s for obesity and cardiovascular and metabolic benefits. People who qualify include patients with a body mass index of 27 or above with prediabetes or established cardiovascular disease; people with a BMI of 30 or more with related health conditions; or those with severe obesity, or a BMI of 35 and above.
GLP-1s for weight loss are approved for a broader population: people who have obesity or are overweight with one related condition. In a note Thursday, Leerink Partners analyst David Risinger also said it’s unclear whether the government will allow patients to stay on a GLP-1 for obesity after their BMI levels drop.
Even with those restrictions, “I think in practice, it’s still going to cover a fair number of people,” said Darius Lakdawalla, chief scientific officer at the University of Southern California’s Schaeffer Center.
JPMorgan analyst Chris Schott said the eligibility criteria mean 80% of the obese population in Medicare could receive coverage for GLP-1s, despite the limits.
“Today’s deal will open up meaningful access to obesity drugs,” Schott said in a note about Eli Lilly on Thursday.
Lakdawalla added that while there isn’t clear evidence that private insurers will expand coverage on the heels of government plans, “it’s just optically harder for them to continue to constrain coverage when Medicare and Medicaid are covering them.”
“That’s going to exert some pressure for commercial coverage of these drugs to expand as well,” Lakdawalla said.
Coverage for GLP-1s for obesity has ticked up slightly, but remains sparse: A May survey of more than 300 companies by the International Foundation of Employee Benefit Plans found that 36% provided coverage for GLP-1s for both weight loss and diabetes, up from 34% in 2024.
Medicaid, direct-to-consumer offerings could fill gaps
Lakdawalla said the direct-to-consumer offerings under the deal could be useful for people who are underinsured, uninsured or may not have coverage for obesity medicines. Still, it’s unclear how many more patients the drugs will reach due to the offerings.
Both Eli Lilly and Novo Nordisk have introduced lower cost options for their drugs for people paying in cash and purchasing the drugs directly through their websites. But the deals with Trump will give those patients even bigger discounts.
On TrumpRx, the average monthly cost for Wegovy, Zepbound and other injectable GLP-1s will start at $350 and drop to $250 within the next two years, according to senior Trump administration officials. Eli Lilly and Novo Nordisk both offered some GLP-1s on their direct-to-consumer platforms for up to $450 to $500 per month.
Starting doses of obesity pills from Eli Lilly and Novo Nordisk — expected to hit the market next year — will be $149 per month on TrumpRx, Medicare and Medicaid.
Eli Lilly on Thursday said it would lower prices by $50 on its own direct-to-consumer platform, LillyDirect, which already offers Zepbound and other drugs at a discount to cash-paying patients. The multidose pen of Zepbound will be available for $299 per month at the lowest dose, with additional doses being priced up to $449 per month.
In terms of Medicaid, Cornell’s Fabrizio said states will likely want to start covering obesity drugs at the lower price point, “but the question is how will they pay for it?”
Around a dozen state Medicaid programs cover obesity drugs, according to 2024 estimates from KFF, a health policy research organization. While GLP-1s offer substantial health benefits to Medicaid beneficiaries, state programs are already facing constrained budgets and administrative demands.
Fabrizio added that raising taxes to cover the drugs “could be a sticky issue.”
Still, JPMorgan’s Schott said offering lower prices to Medicaid programs could lead to a “significant increase in coverage” in that channel, where Zepbound has very limited uptake.
Beermaker BrewDog could be broken up after consultants were called in to help look for new investors.
The Scotland-based brewer, which makes craft beer such as Punk IPA and Elvis Juice, has appointed consultants AlixPartners to oversee a sale process.
Last month, BrewDog announced it was closing its distilling brands, sparking concerns for jobs at its facility in Ellon, Aberdeenshire.
The company, which was founded in 2007, said it made the decision to focus on its beer products.
No decision has been made in respect of the sale process.
A spokesperson for BrewDog said: “As with many businesses operating in a challenging economic climate and facing sustained macro headwinds, we regularly review our options with a focus on the long-term strength and sustainability of the company.
“Following a year of decisive action in 2025, which saw a focus on costs and operating efficiencies, we have appointed AlixPartners to support a structured and competitive process to evaluate the next phase of investment for the business.
“This is a deliberate and disciplined step with a focus on strengthening the long-term future of the BrewDog brand and its operations.
“BrewDog remains a global pioneer in craft beer: a world-class consumer brand, the number one independent brewer in the UK and with a highly engaged global community.
“We believe that this combination will attract substantial interest, though no final decisions have been made.
“Our breweries, bars, and venues continue to operate as normal. We will not comment on any further speculation.”
Brewdog operates 72 bars around the world as well as four breweries.
New Delhi: The Supreme Court has raised serious concerns over how real estate regulatory authorities are functioning across the country. Taking a sharp view, the top court said it may be “better to abolish” these bodies, suggesting they have failed to protect homebuyers and instead appear to benefit defaulting builders. The court added that states should reconsider the very need for such authorities if they are not serving their intended purpose.
A Bench led by Chief Justice of India Surya Kant and Justice Joymalya Bagchi said states should rethink the original purpose behind introducing RERA. The court observed that instead of protecting homebuyers, the law appears to be helping defaulting builders and not serving its intended role.
Expressing strong concern, CJI Surya Kant said states should reflect on the purpose for which RERA was created. He suggested the institution is failing to serve homebuyers and instead appears to benefit defaulting builders. “All states should now think of the people for whom the institution of RERA was created. Except facilitating builders in default, it is not doing anything else. Better to just abolish this institution,” CJI Kant said, quoted by Bar and Bench.
Last year, the High Court had stayed the state government’s decision to shift the RERA office, pointing out that the move was taken “without even identifying an alternative office location”. The court also noted that transferring 18 outsourced employees to other boards and corporations, as requested, “would render the functioning of Rera defunct”.
The Supreme Court, however, set aside the High Court’s order and allowed the state government to shift the RERA office to Dharamshala. It also permitted the relocation of the appellate tribunal to the same location. “With a view to ensure that persons affected by Rera orders are not inconvenienced, the principal appellate is also moved to Dharamshala,” the apex court said.
What Is RERA And Why It Matters
RERA, introduced in 2016, was aimed at addressing project delays, improving transparency and safeguarding homebuyers’ interests. Earlier, each state and union territory operated its own RERA website. However, in September 2025, the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs launched a unified RERA portal that brings together data from across states and UTs on a single platform.
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SEBI proposes stricter base price and band rules for gold, silver ETFs, including cooling-off periods after sharp global price swings to curb volatility.
Amid Global Commodity Volatility, SEBI Plans New Price Band Rules for Gold, Silver ETFs
The market regulator has sought to curb extreme volatility in gold and silver Exchange Traded Funds (ETFs) by proposing changes to the base price and price band framework. Currently, there are no separate price bands for ETFs aligned with their underlying assets, making them vulnerable to sharp price movements.
The proposal comes after sharp volatility in gold and silver ETFs triggered by fluctuations in global commodity prices. On some days, these ETFs fell by over 15%, while on others, they recorded sharp gains.
Stock exchanges currently apply a fixed price band of plus or minus 20% on the base price of ETFs, except for Overnight ETFs investing only in TREPs, which have a price band of plus or minus 5%.
Moreover, the base price for applying price bands to ETFs is taken as the T-2 day closing Net Asset Value (NAV) by exchanges, instead of the T-1 day closing NAV or price, as is the case with indices and individual stocks. This creates a challenge, as the closing NAV of ETFs typically differs between T-1 and T-2 days. Corporate actions such as bonuses and dividends are adjusted manually, increasing the risk of errors.
What Are the Key Proposals?
SEBI has proposed that the base price be determined using either the closing price of the ETF on T-1 day (weighted average price of the last 30 minutes), the closing NAV of T-1 day, or the average indicative NAV (iNAV) of the last 30 minutes of T-1 day.
Further, the regulator has proposed an initial price band of plus or minus 10% for equity and debt ETFs, which can be flexed up to plus or minus 20%. A cooling-off period of 15 minutes will apply, and up to two flexes will be allowed in a day.
For gold and silver ETFs, the regulator has proposed an initial price band of plus or minus 6%, which can be flexed up to plus or minus 20%. This will also include a 15-minute cooling-off period.
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February 14, 2026, 16:08 IST
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