The makers of Zepbound, one of the most popular new brands of weight loss injectables on the market, are offering a massive price cut — if you're willing to purchase and dose your syringes out yourself.
In a press release, drug giant Eli Lilly announced that it's releasing single-dose vials of tirzepatide, the active ingredient in Zepbound and its diabetes sister drug Mounjaro, that customers portion out themselves with syringes that aren't provided by the manufacturer.
This new option, the drugmaker boasts, offers patients with valid prescriptions for the weight loss drug up to 50 percent savings compared to the preloaded auto-injection pens, which as NBC notes can cost $1,059 regardless of dosage. The 2.5-milligram single-serve vial will cost $399 for a four-week supply, while the 5mg dose will run $549.
In an interview with CNN, Jody Dushay, an assistant professor of medicine at Harvard Medical School, pointed out that dosing and injecting oneself with a syringe is still a somewhat common practice for the administration of the diabetes drug insulin.
"It’s old school, but I have patients with type 1 and 2 diabetes who prefer vial and syringe to pen devices," the doctor said. "I don’t think it is a much bigger deal to use an insulin syringe vs auto injector, unless someone has severe needle phobia."
In fact, there are already lots of people who draw up and inject tirzepatide themselves — though the way they go about getting it can be a bit shady.
While the Lilly press release doesn't overtly name them, CNN and other outlets point out that this cheaper DIY dosing of Zepbound comes amid a spate of less-regulated compounded versions of tirzepatide and semaglutide, the active ingredient in Novo Nordisk's similar and uber-popular Ozempic and Wegovy injectables.
"Distributing the vials via this channel ensures patients and providers can trust they are receiving genuine Lilly medicine," the press release explains, "building on the company's efforts to help protect the public from the dangers posed by the proliferation of counterfeit, fake, unsafe or untested knock-offs of Lilly's medications."
While there are state boards regulating compounding pharmacies, which sell so-called "generic" versions of drugs that are similarly doled out to savings-savvy customers in a DIY fashion, a dearth of federal oversight and the often confusing and inadequate dosing guidelines on compounded weight loss drugs makes them far less safe than their expensive brand name counterparts.
Earlier this year, Healthline reported on the cautionary tale of a woman who landed in the hospital with appendicitis after buying compounded semaglutide to help her fit into her wedding dress.
Despite not naming compounding pharmacies in its discounted Zepbound press release, Lilly has — as Fierce Pharma reported in June — hit at least six such providers with lawsuits for allegedly deceiving patients into thinking they were buying the real thing.
With the release of this cheaper DIY dosing scheme, Lilly is clearly taking aim at its compounding competitors — but without the pre-dosed pen making the job all the easier, the brand name might just be losing a bit of its edge.
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