Walgreens Boots Alliance (NASDAQ:WBA) and Hims & Hers (NYSE:HIMS) stocks were both down 7% in early afternoon trading Tuesday following news that Eli Lilly (LLY) had slashed prices for low-dose formulations of its weight-loss drug Zepbound sold through its direct-to-consumer website, LillyDirect.
Lilly (LLY) announced early Tuesday that it planned roll back prices for the two lowest doses of Zepbound, also known as tirzepatide, making the formulations at least 50% cheaper than the list prices of all other GPL-1 drugs for obesity currently on the market, according to a statement.
Zepbound belongs to a class of medications known as GLP-1s, which also includes Novo Nordisk’s (NVO) hugely popular weight-loss drug Wegovy, also known as semaglutide. In May, Hims & Hers (HIMS) announced it planned to sell compounded versions of semaglutide at a significant discount to Novo Nordisk’s (NVO) branded products.
The price breaks are valid for 2.5mg and 5.0 mg doses of Zepbound sold through the self-pay channel on LillyDirect and won’t apply to doses covered by insurance.
“The self-pay channel enables a transparent price by removing third-party supply chain entities and allowing patients to access savings directly outside of insurance,” Lilly said in a statement.
Also weighing on shares of Walgreens was an announcement that Pfizer (PFE) has rolled its direct-to-consumer website, PfizerForAll.
Pfizer is also developing a GLP-1 weight-loss drug, an orally administered GLP-1 receptor agonist called danuglipron.
Shares of CVS Health (CVS) also moved lower following the news, sliding nearly 2% in afternoon action, while Novo Nordisk (NVO) were fractionally lower. Shares of Viking Therapeutics (VKTX), which is also developing GLP-1 drugs, were down 7%.
(Adds Pfizer’s weight-loss drug candidate.)