Novo May Get Better Deal in Medicare Bridge Program — SkimNews
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- Novo Nordisk may have received an undisclosed additional benefit ("sweetener") on top of its previously reported deal with the Trump administration to lower obesity drug costs for seniors, according to STAT reporting.
- The potential extra concession relates to Medicare's Bridge program, per a companion STAT News headline covering the same story.
- Eli Lilly and Novo Nordisk both previously benefited from Trump administration agreements to reduce obesity drug costs for seniors, though the new detail suggests Novo's terms may now exceed Lilly's.
- Dr. Oz publicly praised GLP-1s at Eli Lilly's lab, claiming MFN agreements had drastically cut obesity drug prices — but the newsletter notes Lilly's GLP-1s are in fact exempt from those MFN agreements.
- STAT previously covered how both Lilly and Novo benefited from the Trump administration's pricing deals, framing this new finding as a potential upgrade to Novo's position.
Why it matters: If Novo secured an undisclosed extra benefit in its Trump administration agreement, it would gain a pricing edge over Eli Lilly in the lucrative Medicare obesity drug market — potentially shifting leverage in future government-pharma negotiations over GLP-1 costs.
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