Novo Nordisk Cuts GLP-1 Drug Prices Up to 50%; WADA Monitors Use, Brazil Reports 65 Deaths

Novo Nordisk announced Tuesday that Wegovy, Ozempic and Rybelsus will have a list price of $675 per month starting Jan. 1, 2027. The new prices apply to all doses and are about 50% lower for Wegovy and 35% lower for Ozempic compared with their current pricing of $1,349 for Wegovy, $1,028 for Ozempic and $998 for Rybelsus.

The executive vice president of U.S. operations said in a statement that private and public payers, as well as patients, want access and have been calling for lower list prices. The move is seen as an attempt to make the medication more available to patients who pay for it through their insurance based on list prices. The lower list prices will not impact the prices consumers pay for the drugs directly outside of insurance, Novo Nordisk said.

The World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) is investigating whether to add weight loss jabs to the banned list for the next Summer Olympics in 2028. The agency is monitoring Semaglutide, which is the active ingredient in popular GLP-1 medication, including Ozempic, to see if it is being abused by athletes to cheat. WADA's senior director of science and medicine said the agency wants to see whether it detects patterns of abuse of this drug or this class of substances in sport.

WADA would need to find that athletes are using the drugs to boost performances and that their health is being risked or the spirit of fair sport is being violated. A decision could be taken by the end of this year or in 2027, possibly before the Olympic Games in Los Angeles.

Brazil's Agência Nacional of Vigilância Sanitária (Anvisa) recorded 65 reports of suspicious deaths associated with the use of medicines known as weight loss pens. The cases occurred between December 2018 and December 2025. The agency's pharmacovigilance system received 2,436 reports of adverse events related to the active ingredients semaglutide, liraglutide, dulaglutide and tirzepatide in the same period. Anvisa emphasizes that the notifications indicate suspicion, without proof of a direct causal relationship with the medicines.

The current balance surpasses previous data released by Anvisa at the beginning of February 2026, when six suspicious deaths linked specifically to acute pancreatitis were mentioned. The majority of reported victims are female. The trademarks involved include Ozempic, Wegovy, Mounjaro, Saxenda, Trulicity and Victoza.

Semaglutide accounts for the majority of recent adverse events, representing around 69% in recent years. Liraglutide and tirzepatide contribute smaller portions, around 15% each. On February 9, 2026, Anvisa published a specific warning about the risk of acute pancreatitis associated with the misuse of these drugs. The document advises immediate suspension in case of symptoms such as severe abdominal pain and seeking medical attention.

GLP-1 treatments work by mimicking the natural hormone glucagon-like peptide-1, or GLP-1, which helps regulate blood sugar and suppress appetite and is used to treat Type 2 diabetes and obesity. About 15.5 million U.S. adults have used injectable Type 2 diabetes medications for weight loss, according to a 2024 Gallup poll.

In the United States, about 42% of adults over the age of 20 are obese, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. More than 100 million people in the U.S. live with obesity and over 35 million people have Type 2 diabetes.

Since 2019, GLP-1 treatments for non-diabetic purposes have increased 700%, according to the investment analysis firm Morningstar Equity Research, which projects the market for GLP-1s will reach $180 billion in 2034. Novo Nordisk is a top competitor of Eli Lilly, maker of the GLP-1 weight-loss drugs Zepbound and Mounjaro, which cost $1,086 and $1,069 respectively. Other pharmaceutical behemoths, including Pfizer, Roche, Amgen and AstraZeneca, are expected to begin making GLP-1s between 2027 and 2032. Morningstar expects more price declines for GLP-1s in the future as more companies enter the market.

Last year, Novo Nordisk and Eli Lilly both signed the Trump administration's most-favored-nation drug-pricing policy, which aims to lower prescription drug prices to the same rate as other developed countries. Under the deal, the companies said they would provide state Medicaid programs with most-favored nation prices not only for GLP-1s but all new medicines they bring to the market.