British pharmacies cut prices for weight loss drugs months after launch

financialexpress.com:

In Britain, online pharmacies and slimming clinics are reducing prices for Wegovy and Mounjaro. This development comes months after the weight-loss drugs were launched in the country as initial supply shortages ease.

According to a report by news agency Reuters, growing competition between retailers has raised fears that some patients who buy the drugs themselves, rather than relying on the National Health Service (NHS), will miss out on long-term aftercare if they keep switching providers.

Self-paying patients already account for a big chunk of revenues from Novo Nordisk’s Wegovy and rival Mounjaro, made by Eli Lilly.

And with analysts estimating the new generation of weight-loss therapies could soon be worth $100 billion globally per year, they are increasingly being wooed by drug retailers.

Darrin Baines, a professor of health economics and founder of consultancy Intelligent Parameters, said the market was opening up after initial supply constraints.

“The (drug retail) industry is trying to find out what its margin is on this … Pharmacies with an online business are trying to offer deals to win customers,” said Baines, as quoted by Reuters.

Britain, where obesity rates are among the highest in Europe, is one of only a few countries where powerful weight-loss drugs are available. Wegovy was launched there in September, with Mounjaro following in February.

Novo said in January it expected Wegovy prices to fall as volumes increase and competition heats up. Last month, prescriptions of Lilly’s drug in the United States, where it is called Zepbound and was launched in December, overtook those for Wegovy, the market leader since it debuted in June 2021. The drugmakers have been unable to keep pace with demand for the weekly