Eli Lilly and Ro to collaborate on offering lower-price vials of weight loss drug Zepbound.

• Eli Lilly has partnered with Ro to offer more affordable single-dose vials of the weight loss drug Zepbound through its direct-to-consumer health-care platform.
• Eligible patients will receive a complete end-to-end experience on a single platform and app, with Ro offering a diagnosis, prescription, and home delivery of Zepbound vials.
• The integration with Eli Lilly's direct-to-consumer website, LillyDirect, aims to simplify access to the widely used treatment.

Ro, a direct-to-consumer health-care startup, announced on Wednesday that its platform will now offer more affordable single-dose vials of the weight loss drug Zepbound through a new partnership with a company that aims to simplify access to the popular treatment.

Ro announced that it will provide a "complete end-to-end" experience on a single platform and app, enabling eligible patients to receive a diagnosis and a prescription for Zepbound, as well as have vials of the drug delivered to their homes. This is made possible through a unique integration with Eli Lilly's direct-to-consumer website, LillyDirect, which already offers home delivery of Zepbound vials through a third-party digital pharmacy, Gifthealth.

Patients who receive Zepbound prescriptions through a provider affiliated with Ro will receive the vials from Gifthealth.

LillyDirect offers Zepbound vials, a cash-pay product that has the "most affordable" price of a branded GLP-1 drug before insurance. GLP-1s, a class of medications that mimic gut hormones to tamp down appetite and regulate blood sugar, have seen a significant increase in demand over the past two years.

"Patients typically need to visit multiple locations to obtain Lilly's medication, including the doctor's office and a pharmacy. However, integration of these services creates a smooth patient experience where they can access doctors, labs, and a pharmacy that provides Zepbound vials all in one location, as Zachariah Reitano, co-founder and CEO of Ro, explained in an interview with CNBC."

Zepbound is a weight loss program that includes a single-dose autoinjector pen for patients to inject directly under their skin with a button click. However, this form of the drug is significantly more expensive than vials, costing approximately $1,000 per month before insurance.

Eli Lilly made 2.5-milligram and 5-milligram single-dose vials of Zepbound more accessible to those without insurance coverage for the drug by offering them through LillyDirect in August at $399 per month and $549 per month, respectively.

Ro offers both branded cash-pay GLP-1 and insurance coverage options, including the Zepbound vials, and will assist eligible patients in selecting the most suitable form of the drug based on their insurance.

Although $400 to $500 per month for Zepbound is still out of reach for many, it is now much closer than $1,000 or more.

The shortages of expensive treatments such as Zepbound and Wegovy in the U.S. have been resolved after Eli Lilly and Nordisk increased their manufacturing capacity for the drugs.

Branded Zepbound is being expanded by Eli Lilly in an effort to combat the growing popularity of cheaper compounded versions of the drug.

Eli Lilly's president of cardiometabolic health, Patrik Jonsson, stated in a release on Tuesday that the aim of the new integration is to "eliminate obstacles and offer patients secure and efficient alternatives they can trust."

The FDA is reevaluating its decision to remove Zepbound from its drug shortages list after a lawsuit from a trade association representing compounding pharmacies. This will prevent compounding pharmacies from producing custom versions of the drug.

Ro will adhere to all applicable laws and guidance from the FDA while simultaneously striving to ensure that patients have access to the most effective and affordable products.