Business
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.
Business
BSE Places RRP Semiconductors, 8 Others In Weekly Trading Basket With Surveillance Measures
New Delhi: Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) has imposed a new weekly trading surveillance measure on nine stocks, including RRP Semiconductors, to address excessive volatility following unusual price movements in the stocks.
The exchange announced that starting November 10, 2025, new measures will apply to companies exclusively listed on BSE under specific groups, that trade above Rs 100, have a 2 per cent price band, and possess a price/earnings (PE) ratio greater than 500 or negative, and that have reached the upper price band for two consecutive weeks.
“In continuation of our endeavour to maintain market integrity and curb excessive price movement in securities listed exclusively on the BSE trading platform, a need has been felt to further strengthen the extant surveillance measures,” the exchange said in a statement.
BSE included nine stocks in this measure including, Citizen Infoline, Colab Platforms, Dugar Housing Developments, EMA India, Mardia Samyoung Capillary Tubes Company, Omansh Enterprises, Oswal Overseas, RRP Defense and RRP Semiconductor.
Securities placed under this measure can only trade once a week, either on Monday or the first trading day of the week, within a 1 per cent price band. BSE announced that identification of stocks will occur weekly on Fridays or the last trading day of the week, with quarterly reviews for exiting the framework and with a minimum one-month retention.
BSE also said that the new framework will be in addition to all other prevailing surveillance measures being imposed by the exchanges from time to time. The exchange also clarified that “the shortlisting of securities under this framework is purely on account of market surveillance, and should not be construed as an adverse action against the concerned company.”
Business
PhysicsWallah IPO: Think Investments Buys Rs 136 Crore Stake Ahead Of Issue Opening On November 11
Last Updated:
Think Investments invested Rs 136 crore in PhysicsWallah ahead of its Rs 3,480-crore IPO.
PhysicsWallah IPO will open on November 11 and conclude on November 13.
Global investment firm Think Investments has invested a little over Rs 136 crore in edtech unicorn PhysicsWallah as part of a pre-IPO funding round.
The fresh infusion comes as the company gears up for its upcoming initial public offering (IPO) next week.
As part of the transaction, Think Investments picked up 1.07 crore equity shares, amounting to 0.37 per cent stake in PhysicsWallah from 14 employees of the edtech firm.
The shares were bought at Rs 127 per piece, which is 17 per cent above the issue price. This translates into a transaction size of Rs 136.17 crore.
“Pursuant to share purchase agreement dated November 3 read with the amendment letter dated November 3, 2025 entered into, 14 employees of the company have transferred an aggregate of 10,722,708 equity shares… to Think India Opportunities Master Fund LP on November 4, for an aggregate consideration of Rs 136.17 crore,” PhysicsWallah said in a public announcement.
Think Investments is a USD 4 billion global investment firm, focusing on backing technology-driven early-stage businesses. In India, Think Investments has built a diverse portfolio with investments in some of the prominent companies, including Swiggy, FirstCry, Urban Company, PharmEasy, Experian, Spinny, NSE, Star Health, Meesho, Rapido, Chaayos, and Dream11.
PhysicsWallah is preparing to launch its Rs 3,480-crore initial public offering (IPO), opening on November 11. The firm has fixed a price band of Rs 103-109 per share, targeting a valuation of over Rs 31,500 crore at the upper end.
The IPO includes a fresh issue of Rs 3,100 crore and an offer-for-sale (OFS) of Rs 380 crore by co-founders and promoters Alakh Pandey and Prateek Maheshwari.
Together, the promoters currently hold 80.62 per cent of the company, which will reduce to 72 per cent post-IPO. Notably, none of the early investors will sell their stakes in this offering.
The issue will close on November 13, with anchor investor allocation scheduled for November 10.
Varun Yadav is a Sub Editor at News18 Business Digital. He writes articles on markets, personal finance, technology, and more. He completed his post-graduation diploma in English Journalism from the Indian Inst…Read More
Varun Yadav is a Sub Editor at News18 Business Digital. He writes articles on markets, personal finance, technology, and more. He completed his post-graduation diploma in English Journalism from the Indian Inst… Read More
November 08, 2025, 13:19 IST
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Business
Nasdaq slides: Index posts steepest weekly drop since April; AI rally doubts weigh on tech stocks – The Times of India
The Nasdaq Composite ended slightly lower on Friday but posted its sharpest weekly loss since early April, as investors questioned how long the artificial intelligence boom could sustain recent market highs. The index slipped 0.21% to 23,004.54, bringing its total weekly fall to around 3%, while chipmakers and technology shares led the declines.Despite this pullback, the Nasdaq has surged more than 50% since April, when US President Donald Trump announced wide-ranging tariffs, with AI optimism lifting markets to record levels. However, sentiment cooled this week after Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang was quoted by The Financial Times as saying that China may surpass the US in the AI race. “We’re seeing this AI selloff continue after the comments we had about China winning the AI race,” said Michael O’Rourke, chief market strategist at JonesTrading in Stamford, Connecticut, as per news agency Reuters. He added that the sector’s weakness reflected “a recalibration of multiples” and some investors taking profits after a strong run.The S&P 500 rose 0.13% to 6,728.81, and the Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 0.16% to 46,987.10, both rebounding late in the session after reports suggested progress in ending the longest federal government shutdown in US history. The global equities index MSCI (.MIWD00000PUS) slipped 0.07%, and the STOXX 600 in Europe lost 0.55%, as weak trade data from China renewed worries over slowing global growth.Chinese exports fell 1.1% in October, the steepest decline since February, underscoring the damage from Trump’s tariffs and denting investor confidence across Asia.In the bond market, US treasury yields edged down after surveys pointed to worsening consumer sentiment. The University of Michigan’s preliminary index for November dropped to 50.3, the lowest since June 2022, driven by record-low views of current economic conditions amid concerns over the shutdown. The 10-year Treasury yield eased slightly to 4.091%.The US dollar weakened against major currencies, with the dollar index slipping 0.11% to 99.57. The euro firmed to $1.1563, while the yen weakened to 153.45 per dollar. As per Reuters, the shutdown has delayed key economic reports, though current indicators suggest the economy remains resilient, potentially reducing pressure for the Federal Reserve to cut rates at its December meeting.Meanwhile, oil prices rebounded on optimism after Trump met Hungary’s Prime Minister Viktor Orbán at the White House, fuelling hopes that Hungary could use Russian crude. US crude settled 32 cents higher at $59.75 per barrel, while Brent rose 25 cents to $63.63. Gold prices also firmed as investors sought safety amid uncertainty.
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PhysicsWallah IPO: Think Investments Buys Rs 136 Crore Stake Ahead Of Issue Opening On November 11
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