STAT+: Pharmalittle: We’re reading about Medicare and obesity drugs, Germany’s pricing plans, and more
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- Medicare will cover weight loss drugs for adults 65 and older starting next month through a demonstration program called Bridge, circumventing a statutory prohibition on the program paying for obesity drugs.
- The Trump administration originally designed a three-year voluntary program called Balance to push private Medicare insurers to cover the drugs, but insurers balked, prompting the government to extend the transitional Bridge program through the end of next year.
- Novo Nordisk CEO Mike Doustdar said the company plans to seek Chinese regulatory approval for its Wegovy weight loss pill "very soon," aiming to catch up with Eli Lilly in the world's second-largest pharmaceutical market.
- The semaglutide patent (the active ingredient in Wegovy and Ozempic) expired in China in March, with regulatory data protection lasting until early next year; Doustdar expects generic competition beginning in Q2 of next year.
- Eli Lilly secured U.S. approval for its oral obesity drug orforglipron in April, trailing Novo Nordisk's earlier U.S. and U.K. approvals and U.S. launch of the Wegovy pill.
Why it matters: The Bridge program gives seniors access to GLP-1 drugs through a demonstration workaround that sidesteps a congressionally-written ban, and the government itself labels it temporary. For Novo Nordisk, the China filing arrives before semaglutide's regulatory data protection expires early next year, meaning the company must establish branded market share before generics arrive in Q2.
