Costco members can now buy popular weight-loss and diabetes drugs Ozempic and Wegovy at a discounted price.
Novo Nordisk, the maker of the GLP-1 medications, announced a partnership with the retailer on Friday.
Through the Costco Member Prescription Program, the drug will cost $499 for a four-week supply of injectable pens. The price only applies to customers not using insurance.
The discounted price tags will be available at 600 Costco pharmacies, NBC News reported.
Novo Nordisk sells the drugs at the same price through its website. CVS and Walgreens also offer the weight-loss medications at the same out-of-pocket price, according to GoodRx.
“We want to make sure we offer the real, authentic Wegovy and Ozempic where patients seek care,” David Moore, president of Novo Nordisk U.S., told NBC News. “We know that Costco is a trusted brand.”
Both Ozempic and Wegovy have the active ingredient semaglutide, but the FDA approved Wegovy to treat obesity and Ozempic to treat diabetes. Still, Ozempic rose to popularity as it was hailed as a “miracle medication” for weight-loss.
As of May 2024, one in eight American adults have used a GLP-1 medication, according to a survey by KFF. A recent study suggested that both drugs can also help prevent heart attacks and strokes.
Despite their surge in popularity, many people struggle to access the revolutionary medications. More than half of all adults who have taken a GLP-1 medication — 54 percent — said it was difficult to afford it, the KFF poll found.
Similarly, insurance doesn’t always cover it; as of August 2024, only 13 state Medicaid programs covered GLP-1s for obesity treatment, KFF research found.
Dr. Rekha Kumar, an endocrinologist at Weill Cornell Medicine, praised the new partnership as a way to expand access.
“This will definitely improve one of the issues with access, meaning that there is another place that people can get the medicine that you know isn’t their retail pharmacy, isn’t an online telehealth pharmacy, but a large store that many people in the United States go to,” she told NBC News.
Even with additional pharmacies offering the drugs, it still won’t “solve the issues of insurance coverage and cost,” Kumar added.
Dr. Harlan Krumholz, cardiologist and professor of medicine at Yale School of Medicine, told the outlet that the $499 price tag is still too high for many Americans to buy.
“The people who have the greatest need for these medications are precisely the people who are in lower socioeconomic strata who have either poor insurance or no insurance, and don’t have the discretionary funds to be spending on medications,” he told NBC News.
“If we really want to make the biggest difference on the health of the nation, we have to make sure that the people who would benefit the most have access to medications that are being shown to be beneficial.”
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