Weight-loss drugs are getting pricier

The drug saw an increase of 3.5% at the beginning of the year, bringing the monthly price close to $970. Mounjaro, another type 2 diabetes treatment sometimes prescribed off-label for weight loss saw a 4.5% spike, with prices reaching $1,070 per month.

The hikes are part of a wider increase in prices by drug makers. All totaled, The Wall Street Journal reports, 775 name-brand drugs became more expensive in the first half of January. The median increase was 4.5%, though some brands saw as much as a 10% jump. Both figures are higher than the current rate of inflation.

Price increases in the pharmaceutical industry are very common. 46brooklyn Research, the non-profit that provided the data for the WSJ story, noted that 2024 kicked off with 452 price increases on Jan. 1, a higher number than last year, but notably below the number in 2022 (540) and 2021 (602).

More increases could be on the way, too, as the firm’s numbers include data from Novo Nordisk and Eli Lilly (among others), but so far none from Johnson & Johnson. The increases are for the drugs’ list price and does not necessarily mean consumers will pay more. That’s often dependent on their insurance coverage and other incentives.

The moves come as Ozempic is becoming increasingly popular. Prescriptions for the drug and similar ones quadrupled between 2020 and the end of 2022, with many providers prescribing it for “off-label” usage, meaning for conditions other than its approved use. In the final three months of 2022 alone, doctors and their staff wrote more than 9 million prescriptions for the diabetes drugs.

The price increase could be especially concerning to patients whose health care plans do not cover Ozempic, Mounjaro or other drugs when they’re ordered for weight-loss issues.