White House deal is just a start on obesity

White House deal with Eli Lilly & Co. and Novo Nordisk to lower the prices of their popular obesity medicines, Zepbound and Wegovy, is a step toward making them more affordable and accessible to Americans — but until we have more details, it’s hard to tell how big astep it reallyis.

- Lisa Jarvis, Tribune News Service

Donald Trump

The agreement, announced Thursday by the Donald Trump administration, has several key components. For the first time, Medicare will cover obesity medicines, allowing older Americans who qualify for the drugs to obtain them for a$50 monthly copay. Medicaid and Medicare will pay $245 per month for Lilly and Novo Nordisk's GLP-I drugs used to treat both diabetes and obesity. Meanwhile, Americans outside of these programs will be able to purchase them at a discount through the new platform, TrumpRx.

Lilly and Novo Nordiskhave emergedas clear winners in this deal. In addition to expanded Medicare coverage for their drugs and a potentially larger market for their cash-pay businesses, both companies will enjoy athree-year reprieve from President Donald Trump's tariffs on all their products andhave been granted Foodand Drug ‘Administration vouchers for expedited review of one new treatment each.