As part of its new partnership with Danish drug manufacturer Novo Nordisk, Costco will offer GLP-1’s like Wegovy and Ozempic to its members who pay for the medications without insurance coverage at a deep 50% discount through its Costco Member Prescription Program.
The medications will run Costco members $499 for a four-week supply of pens, but like any other pharmacy, they are required to have a prescription for the drug from their doctor in order to have it filled.
As People Magazine reported, an additional 2% discount is available for both Costco Executive Members and Costco Citibank Visa cardholders, which, like any offer from a credit card company, is subject to the applicable terms of the cardholder agreement.
As Dave Moore, executive vice president, U.S. Operations of Novo Nordisk Inc., told the outlet, “Our collaboration with Costco is another step forward by Novo Nordisk in making real Wegovy and Ozempic easier to access and afford — right where people already shop.”
He continued, “By partnering with one of the country’s most trusted retailers, we are meeting people where they are and connecting them to real, FDA-approved medicines in our premium pen devices with our $499 self-pay offer. Everyone deserves care that’s simple, reliable, and within reach — and we’re proud to lead the way in helping make that a reality.”
People reached out to Costco for more information about the program, but did not receive a response before their story ran.
While similar, the two drugs have been approved for different treatments, although both are Semaglutide medications — which basically work as appetite suppressants. Wegovy has been approved for use as a weight loss aid, while Ozempic was initially developed and is still approved for use as a treatment for Type 2 diabetes.
As such, Ozempic is generally approved by most insurance companies, but may be subject to a prior authorization, while Wegovy will generally not be approved unless it is prescribed for what is referred to as a therapeutic use for the treatment of obesity.
The rise of GLP-1’s, considered by some in the medical community as the next “wonder drug” due to the wide range of potential applications beyond weight loss and diabetes treatment, has also come at a considerable cost to the public. As Moore alluded to, counterfeit versions of the highly demanded drugs have made people sick.
As the FDA noted in its advisory to the public, drugs that are not FDA-approved carry additional risks for patients, noting that as of July 31, it has received 605 reports of adverse events (a bad reaction to ingesting a drug) associated with compounded semaglutide and 545 adverse events related to compounded tirzepatide.
Per their advisory, the “FDA is aware of counterfeit Ozempic marketed in the U.S. Counterfeit drugs claim to be authentic, but could contain the wrong ingredients, contain too little, too much or no active ingredient at all or other harmful ingredients, and are illegal.”
As Stat News noted as part of its 2024 reporting series on the impact of weight loss drugs on the Black community, despite the explosion in popularity for GLP-1’s, Black patients with diabetes are not prescribed those medications at the same rate as whites.
Fatima Cody Stanford, an obesity medicine physician-scientist at Massachusetts General Hospital, indicated that this development represents a larger problem with how body image is read onto others in America.
“I think the conversation is definitely missing the Black community. We hear the privileged white voice in the community because that’s usually who can afford it and who gets the access and care. With obesity, we do blame people because we think…the right way is diet and exercise. We have this moral code that we espouse that people have to use. We are not lazy Black people. We care about our disease. We care about our health,” Stanford told the outlet.
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