GLP-1 Price & Access Tracker: What the Major GLP-1s Cost in 2026, by Channel

By Kaden Coziar, Founder & Managing Editor · The RX Index Research

Last verified: September 24, 2026·Updated: September 25, 2026·Full review status: Current — full review completed September 24, 2026·An independent research and reference resource. Not medical or financial advice.

As of September 24, 2026, published U.S. list prices for the major GLP-1 medicines run from $649 a month (Foundayo, the newest oral option) to about $1,349 (Wegovy) — but the list price is rarely what anyone actually pays. The same drugs are available for about $149–$499 a month in cash through manufacturer direct programs (more for the highest Zepbound doses off-schedule), roughly $25 a month with commercial insurance that covers them, and — for the first time, and only for weight management — about $50 a month for eligible Medicare beneficiaries through the new Medicare GLP-1 Bridge. On January 1, 2027, Novo Nordisk cuts its semaglutide list prices to $675 a month, the same day Medicare’s negotiated prices for semaglutide ($276.78–$385.63 per package) take effect. Take one drug — Wegovy 2.4 mg — and the monthly price runs from about $50 (a Medicare copay) to $1,349 (the list price): a 27× spread set almost entirely by how it’s paid for, not by the drug.

The GLP-1 price matrix: the major drugs, every channel

This is the core of the tracker: for each major GLP-1, the current U.S. price through every payment channel that exists in 2026, plus the two changes already locked in for January 1, 2027. Prices are monthly and reflect the specific channel. Every column’s source is listed directly beneath the table.

Sources (by column): List price — Eli Lilly pricing pages (Foundayo, Mounjaro, Zepbound); NovoCare / Novo Nordisk (Wegovy $1,349.02; Ozempic pen and pill current list $1,027.51). Cash — NovoCare Pharmacy / Wegovy self-pay terms; LillyDirect Zepbound and Foundayo Self Pay Journey terms. TrumpRx — TrumpRx.gov live listings and the White House TrumpRx launch fact sheet (Feb 6, 2026). Commercial — manufacturer savings-card terms. Medicare 2026 — CMS, “Medicare GLP-1 Bridge: Information for Part D Plans” (page last modified August 6, 2026). IRA price — CMS “Selected Drugs and Negotiated Prices / IPAY 2027” (selected-drug dataset updated September 21, 2026; per-package Maximum Fair Price). New list — Novo Nordisk press release (Feb 24, 2026). Ranges reflect dose variation; see footnotes below.

GLP-1 price statistics: the quote-ready numbers

All figures below follow directly from the sourced prices in the matrix above.

• The cheapest manufacturer self-pay price for an FDA-approved obesity GLP-1 is $149/month — Foundayo 0.8 mg and oral Wegovy 1.5 mg.
• Foundayo’s cheapest self-pay price is about 77% below its list price — $149 vs. $649 ($500 lower).
• Oral Wegovy’s cheapest self-pay price is about 89% below its list price — $149 vs. $1,349.02 ($1,200 lower).
• The new $50 Medicare Bridge copay is about 66% below the lowest manufacturer self-pay floor — $50 vs. $149.
• Semaglutide’s 2027 negotiated Medicare price is about 71% below its 2024 list price — roughly $274 per 30-day supply vs. $959.

Why the same drug has so many prices

A single GLP-1 can show a dozen different numbers because “price” means something different in each channel. The list price, or wholesale acquisition cost (WAC), is the manufacturer’s pre-rebate sticker — the number retail pharmacies bill and the base for coinsurance and deductibles, but rarely the true transaction price once rebates are counted. A manufacturer self-pay price is a cash program rate set by the maker and accessed through its direct channel (LillyDirect, NovoCare) or TrumpRx. A commercial savings-card price applies only if you have eligible commercial insurance that covers the drug. The Medicare GLP-1 Bridge copay is a flat $50 demonstration price for weight-management use. And the IRA Maximum Fair Price is a Medicare-only negotiated ceiling that takes effect in 2027. None of these convert into one another, which is why comparing a list price to a copay — as many headlines do — mixes categories that describe entirely different situations.

The cheapest access path by situation

The lowest price you can get depends less on the drug than on your coverage. With commercial insurance that covers the medicine, a manufacturer savings card is almost always cheapest (about $25/mo). Without coverage, manufacturer direct programs beat retail pharmacies by a wide margin. Eligible Medicare beneficiaries now have a $50/mo path for weight management for the first time. The table below maps the practical lowest-cost route for each common situation, with the rule behind each recommendation.

Source: Manufacturer program terms (NovoCare, LillyDirect, Foundayo); White House TrumpRx fact sheet (Feb 6, 2026); CMS Medicare GLP-1 Bridge pages. This table is an editorial synthesis of the sourced prices above, not a separate dataset.

Medicare & GLP-1s: the $50 copay, the $245 price, and the 2027 negotiated price

There are several different Medicare numbers in circulation, and they are not the same thing. For weight management, a temporary CMS demonstration — the Medicare GLP-1 Bridge — delivers a $50 monthly copay and, for the first time, opens Medicare to covering GLP-1s for obesity. Separately, the Inflation Reduction Act’s negotiated Maximum Fair Prices for semaglutide take effect January 1, 2027. The table untangles which mechanism is which.

Sources: CMS, “Medicare GLP-1 Bridge: Information for Part D Plans” (last modified August 6, 2026) — Bridge dates, $245 net price, $50 copay, eligible products/formulations/NDCs, clinical criteria, and BALANCE deferral. CMS, “Selected Drugs and Negotiated Prices / IPAY 2027” (selected-drug dataset updated September 21, 2026) — per-package Maximum Fair Prices; about $274 standardized 30-day-equivalent figure; roughly 71% below the 2024 list price of $959.

How the Bridge actually works

The Medicare GLP-1 Bridge is a short-term CMS demonstration that runs outside the normal Part D coverage and payment flow. Because it sits outside Part D, plan sponsors carry no risk for these drugs and do not have to opt in; CMS uses a single central processor — Humana, which already administers the LI NET program — to handle prior authorization, claims, and payment to pharmacies. Key specifics:

• It is weight-management only. Eligible drugs are furnished at the $50 copay only when prescribed to reduce excess body weight and maintain weight reduction. Type 2 diabetes, obstructive sleep apnea, and MASH are covered under regular Part D, so a beneficiary using Wegovy for cardiovascular-risk reduction or Zepbound for sleep apnea goes through their Part D plan, not the Bridge.
• Only certain products and formulations qualify. All formulations of Foundayo, all formulations of Wegovy (injection and tablets), and the KwikPen formulation of Zepbound are included. The single-dose vial and single-dose pen formulations of Zepbound are not available through the Bridge.
• There are clinical gates. A provider must submit a prior-authorization request attesting the beneficiary is at least 18, is using the drug alongside lifestyle modification, and has a BMI of ≥35 — or ≥30 with a qualifying condition (heart failure with preserved ejection fraction, uncontrolled hypertension, or chronic kidney disease stage 3a or above) — or ≥27 with a qualifying condition (pre-diabetes, previous heart attack, previous stroke, or symptomatic peripheral artery disease).
• There is also a 2026 prior-use restriction. CMS checks whether the beneficiary previously received a GLP-1 through Part D during calendar year 2026. A beneficiary who already filled a GLP-1 through Part D in 2026 is not eligible for the Bridge in 2026 and should continue obtaining treatment through the Part D plan. CMS has not yet determined the lookback period it will use in 2027.
• The $50 does not behave like a normal copay. It stays $50 regardless of which phase of the Part D benefit the beneficiary is in, and — because the Bridge is outside Part D — no part of the $50 copay counts toward true out-of-pocket costs (TrOOP), and no part of the $245 net price counts toward gross covered prescription drug costs (GCPDC). Low-income cost-sharing subsidies do not apply to the copay, and coupons and discount programs cannot be applied to Bridge claims.

Source: CMS, “Medicare GLP-1 Bridge: Information for Part D Plans” (last modified August 6, 2026). CMS notes this product and NDC list may be updated over the course of the demonstration. See also: Medicare GLP-1 Bridge guide →

The $245 price, the $274 negotiated price, and how they relate

Two different Medicare prices exist for semaglutide, set by two different mechanisms. The November 2025 federal deal set a $245 net price, delivered operationally through the Bridge with the $50 beneficiary copay for weight management. Separately, CMS’s Inflation Reduction Act negotiation set a Maximum Fair Price of about $274 per 30-day supply — reported per package as $276.78 for Ozempic’s 4 mg pen and Rybelsus’s 7 mg tablets and $385.63 for Wegovy’s 2.4 mg 4-pen pack — effective January 1, 2027.

This tracker reports both because they are separate mechanisms, and the pathway a beneficiary uses is set by indication: weight-management use runs through the Bridge at the $50 copay, while diabetes, cardiovascular, and sleep-apnea use runs through Part D, where semaglutide’s 2027 Maximum Fair Price sets the basis for cost-sharing. The $245 deal price is lower than the negotiated price; industry and news reporting has suggested the deal price is expected to take precedence for covered GLP-1s, but CMS had not published the full cost-sharing and subsidy mechanics at the time of writing, so this tracker does not assert a single combined Medicare price.

TrumpRx and direct-to-consumer cash prices

For cash-paying patients, manufacturer direct programs and TrumpRx are the lowest official brand-name GLP-1 prices verified in this tracker. TrumpRx.gov, which launched February 5, 2026, is a federal portal that routes patients to the manufacturers’ own direct-pay channels (LillyDirect, NovoCare) rather than selling drugs itself. At verification, TrumpRx listed Ozempic pen from $199 for eligible introductory fills and $349–$499 at standard self-pay prices, Ozempic pill from $149, Wegovy pen from $199 for eligible introductory fills and $349 standard ($399 for Wegovy HD), Wegovy pill from $149, Zepbound from $299, Mounjaro at $499, and Foundayo from $149. Prices vary by dose and offer eligibility. Bought directly, LillyDirect and NovoCare sell for $149–$499/mo depending on drug and dose. Because TrumpRx is a cash-pay route, purchases through it do not count toward insurance deductibles or out-of-pocket maximums, and eligibility must be checked for each offer: government insurance does not automatically exclude a patient from NovoCare’s separate Wegovy self-pay program. All of these channels sell FDA-approved brand-name product only — not compounded copies.

Compounded GLP-1s and their FDA status

The compounded-copy era for semaglutide and tirzepatide has largely closed, and that is a pricing story as much as a safety one. During the 2022–2024 shortages, pharmacies could legally compound copies of these drugs, and low-cost compounded versions became a major access channel. That basis is now gone.

The FDA determined the semaglutide injection shortage resolved on February 21, 2025 (it had been in shortage since 2022 due to demand); the tirzepatide shortage was resolved earlier, in late 2024, and enforcement discretion for compounders of both drugs wound down through the first half of 2025. As of 2026, neither semaglutide nor tirzepatide appears on FDA’s drug shortage list or on the 503B bulks list. Because they are off the shortage list, outsourcing facilities and pharmacies can no longer routinely compound “essentially a copy” of these drugs. Under section 503A, a pharmacy may still compound limited quantities (FDA has said it does not intend to act against a pharmacy filling four or fewer prescriptions of an essentially-a-copy product per month) or a genuinely different formulation where a prescriber documents a significant difference for an individual patient — but compounded drugs are not FDA-approved and are not the same as FDA-approved generics.

Enforcement and rulemaking have followed. On March 3, 2026, the FDA issued 30 warning letters to telehealth companies for false or misleading claims about compounded GLP-1 products — chiefly implying “sameness” with FDA-approved products and obscuring who actually compounded the drug. Then, on April 30, 2026, the FDA proposed to exclude semaglutide, tirzepatide, and liraglutide from the 503B bulks list, finding no clinical need for outsourcing facilities to compound them from bulk substances (the public comment deadline was extended to July 30, 2026; see Federal Register document 2026-12937, published June 26, 2026). This tracker prices only FDA-approved brand-name products.

Source: FDA, “FDA clarifies policies for compounders as national GLP-1 supply begins to stabilize”; FDA, “FDA Proposes to Exclude Semaglutide, Tirzepatide, and Liraglutide on 503B Bulks List” (Apr 30, 2026); FDA, “FDA Warns 30 Telehealth Companies Against Illegal Marketing of Compounded GLP-1s” (Mar 3, 2026).

Pricing & policy timeline: what changed and what’s coming

The dated timeline below separates implemented pricing changes from announced future changes and identifies the events behind the numbers in this tracker.

• 2022Semaglutide injection products enter shortage due to surging demand.
• Late 2024FDA determines the tirzepatide injection shortage resolved.
• Feb 21, 2025FDA determines the semaglutide injection shortage resolved; compounder enforcement discretion begins winding down.
• Nov 17, 2025Novo Nordisk lowers the standard self-pay price of Wegovy injection and the 0.25/0.5 mg and 1 mg Ozempic injection offers from $499 to $349 per monthly fill and introduces a $199 starter offer for eligible new patients.
• Nov 6, 2025White House announces a most-favored-nation deal with Lilly and Novo: a ~$245 Medicare/Medicaid price with a $50 weight-management copay, first-ever Medicare weight-management coverage, a TrumpRx glide path toward ~$245, and a $149–$150 oral starter dose.
• Nov 2025CMS announces round-two IRA negotiated prices; semaglutide (Ozempic, Rybelsus, Wegovy) set at about $274 per 30-day supply ($276.78 / $385.63 per package), effective Jan 1, 2027.
• Jan 1, 2026Lilly raises Mounjaro's list price to $1,112.16 (from $1,069.08).
• Feb 5, 2026TrumpRx.gov launches.
• Feb 23, 2026LillyDirect Zepbound Self Pay Journey pricing takes effect: $299 / $399 / $449 by dose.
• Feb 24, 2026Novo announces a list-price cut to $675/mo for Wegovy, Ozempic, and Rybelsus (about −50% for Wegovy, −35% for Ozempic/Rybelsus), effective Jan 1, 2027; self-pay prices unaffected.
• Mar 3, 2026FDA issues 30 warning letters to telehealth companies over compounded-GLP-1 marketing.
• Apr 1, 2026FDA approves Foundayo (orforglipron), an oral GLP-1 that can be taken any time without food or water restrictions; list price $649/mo, self-pay from $149/mo.
• Apr 30, 2026FDA proposes to exclude semaglutide, tirzepatide, and liraglutide from the 503B bulks list.
• May 4, 2026Novo Nordisk launches Ozempic tablets nationwide in the U.S. at 1.5 mg, 4 mg, and 9 mg, transitioning its U.S. oral semaglutide diabetes product from Rybelsus to the Ozempic brand; manufacturer self-pay begins at $149/month.
• Jul 1, 2026Medicare GLP-1 Bridge goes live: a $50/mo copay for eligible weight-management beneficiaries, running through Dec 31, 2027.
• Aug 28, 2026FDA approves Mounjaro (tirzepatide) to reduce the risk of major adverse cardiovascular events in adults with type 2 diabetes who are at high cardiovascular risk.
• Jan 1, 2027 (upcoming)Novo's semaglutide list price drops to $675/mo; the IRA Maximum Fair Prices take effect ($276.78 / $385.63 per package).

Sources: Novo Nordisk press release (Feb 24, 2026); LillyDirect Zepbound and Foundayo terms and Lilly pricing pages; Lilly / FDA Foundayo approval (Apr 1, 2026); White House GLP-1 and TrumpRx fact sheets; CMS IPAY 2027 fact sheet; CMS Medicare GLP-1 Bridge pages; FDA drug-shortage, compounding, 503B-proposal, and warning-letter statements.

Methodology: how we built and verified this

Every price figure in the main matrix was verified against a primary manufacturer, CMS, FDA, or TrumpRx source; secondary reporting is used only as corroborating context, not as the basis for the table. We assembled prices for each drug across each channel by reading the issuing source directly: manufacturer pricing pages and program terms for list and cash prices, TrumpRx.gov for its live listings, CMS’s Medicare GLP-1 Bridge pages and its negotiated-price fact sheet for the Medicare figures, the White House fact sheets for the November 2025 deal and the TrumpRx launch, and FDA statements for shortage and compounding status. Where a manufacturer’s list price is published only as a dynamically displayed value, we corroborated the figure across multiple reputable reports of that same manufacturer number before including it.

The dataset deliberately separates price layers that are commonly confused: list price (WAC), manufacturer self-pay price, commercial savings-card floor, Medicare GLP-1 Bridge copay, and the CMS net/negotiated price. Prices are stated per month, and a “month” is defined by each program — typically a 28-day supply for Mounjaro, Wegovy injection, and Zepbound and a 30-day supply for Foundayo and Wegovy tablets. Commercial “as little as $25” savings-card prices are not treated as cash prices, because they require eligible commercial coverage; their eligibility is separate from offer-specific self-pay terms. Cells marked “not posted,” “not selected,” “no cash-pay program,” or “—” mean the figure was genuinely unavailable or does not apply; we did not estimate or infer prices. This page is re-checked against its primary sources on the schedule in the update log; the “Last verified” date at the top reflects the most recent full review.

Download the GLP-1 Price & Access Dataset (.csv) — the price matrix above in long format, one row per drug and payment channel, with the footnote terms and column sources shown on this page (data verified September 24, 2026).

Source ledger

Limitations: what this data does and doesn’t show

This is a snapshot of published prices, not a guarantee of what any individual will pay. GLP-1 pricing moves quickly, and several figures here carry caveats a careful reader should know:

• Insurance cost-sharing varies by plan. The “as low as $25” figure assumes commercial coverage and eligibility; many commercial plans exclude obesity indications entirely, and out-of-pocket cost under a high-deductible plan can approach the full list price until the deductible is met.
• The $50 Medicare Bridge price is narrow. It applies only to weight-management use of the specific eligible products and formulations, only to beneficiaries who meet the clinical criteria and obtain prior authorization, and only through December 31, 2027. Diabetes, cardiovascular, and sleep-apnea use runs through regular Part D at the plan’s normal cost-sharing.
• Manufacturer prices and introductory offers change without notice. Several self-pay rates depend on time-limited offers or on refill timing (the LillyDirect 45-day rule for higher Foundayo and Zepbound doses).
• TrumpRx prices are starting prices and can change. They reflect the lowest-dose or first-fill price shown on the portal at verification and route to manufacturer channels; confirm the current price for a specific dose on TrumpRx.gov.
• The deal price and the negotiated price are two separate numbers. We report both mechanisms rather than asserting a single combined Medicare price, because CMS had not published the full interaction and subsidy mechanics at the time of writing.
• Medicaid obesity coverage is outside this tracker. A minority of state Medicaid programs cover GLP-1s for obesity, the count changes frequently, and the ~$245 deal price is available to states that opt in. Confirm your state’s current coverage through the state Medicaid agency. See also: Medicaid GLP-1 coverage by state →

How to cite this page

Suggested citation format, for writers, researchers, and editors who reference this dataset:

Update log

• September 25, 2026
  Added a downloadable CSV of the price matrix (verified September 24, 2026). No prices or other data values were changed.
• September 24, 2026
  Full review. Replaced the current Rybelsus pricing row with Ozempic pill after Novo Nordisk transitioned its U.S. oral semaglutide diabetes product to the Ozempic brand; added current Ozempic pill pricing and TrumpRx access. Updated Mounjaro to reflect its $499/month LillyDirect self-pay option, live TrumpRx listing, and August 28, 2026 FDA cardiovascular-risk-reduction indication. Updated Wegovy cash pricing to distinguish the $199 introductory offer, $349 standard injection price, $399 Wegovy HD price, and oral dose-based pricing. Re-verified TrumpRx listings for Ozempic, Wegovy, Zepbound, Mounjaro, and Foundayo. Re-checked the Medicare GLP-1 Bridge against CMS's August 6 guidance and added the 2026 prior-Part-D-GLP-1-use exclusion. Re-checked CMS's September 21 negotiated-price dataset; the cited 2027 semaglutide package prices remain unchanged. Re-verified FDA shortage and compounding status.
• July 1, 2026
  Full review. Corrected list prices to verified figures (Foundayo $649; Mounjaro $1,112.16, up from $1,069.08 on Jan 1, 2026; Wegovy $1,349.02; Zepbound single-dose pen $1,086.37) and clarified that Mounjaro has no manufacturer cash-pay program. Updated the TrumpRx column to the current live starting prices ($199 Wegovy/Ozempic, $149 Wegovy pill, $299 Zepbound). Reconciled the Medicare picture against CMS’s Bridge pages: $245 net price / $50 copay, the July 1, 2026–December 31, 2027 window, eligible products and formulations (Foundayo and Wegovy all formulations; Zepbound KwikPen only; single-dose vials and pens excluded), the weight-management-only scope, clinical criteria, and the product NDC list. Added an FDA compounding-status snapshot (semaglutide shortage resolved Feb 21, 2025; 30 telehealth warning letters Mar 3, 2026; 503B bulks-list exclusion proposal Apr 30, 2026) and a source ledger. Reported the $245 deal price and the 2027 IRA Maximum Fair Price as separate mechanisms rather than asserting a single combined price.

Frequently asked questions

Primary and authoritative sources

• Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services. “Medicare GLP-1 Bridge: Information for Part D Plans” and related Bridge pages (last modified August 6, 2026). cms.gov.
• Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services. “Selected Drugs and Negotiated Prices / IPAY 2027” (selected-drug dataset updated September 21, 2026). cms.gov.
• The White House. GLP-1 pricing agreement fact sheet (Nov 6, 2025) and TrumpRx.gov launch fact sheet (Feb 6, 2026); TrumpRx.gov.
• Novo Nordisk. “Novo Nordisk announces significant reduction in US list price for Wegovy, Ozempic, and Rybelsus” (press release, Feb 24, 2026); NovoCare Pharmacy and Wegovy/Ozempic cost and savings pages.
• Eli Lilly and Company. Lilly pricing pages (Foundayo, Mounjaro, Zepbound); Mounjaro $499/month LillyDirect self-pay and the August 28, 2026 cardiovascular-risk-reduction indication; LillyDirect Foundayo and Zepbound Self Pay Journey terms; “FDA approves Lilly’s Foundayo (orforglipron)” (press release, Apr 1, 2026).
• U.S. Food and Drug Administration. “FDA clarifies policies for compounders as national GLP-1 supply begins to stabilize”; “FDA Proposes to Exclude Semaglutide, Tirzepatide, and Liraglutide on 503B Bulks List” (Apr 30, 2026); “FDA Warns 30 Telehealth Companies Against Illegal Marketing of Compounded GLP-1s” (Mar 3, 2026).
• Corroborating reporting of manufacturer/agency figures (used only as context; dates noted inline): Reuters/CNBC, Fierce Pharma, GoodRx, AMCP, AJMC, KFF, and Managed Healthcare Executive.

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