PBMs, Payers, Employers Anticipate Growing Weight Loss Medication Cost Trends

In October, the FDA granted a fast-track designation for tirzepatide, a medication to treat obese adults or overweight adults with weight-related comorbidities. As such, the agency will likely fully approve the drug in the next few months, according to drug pricing and market access professionals who spoke with AIS Health. They say the decision will have a major impact on PBMs, payers and employers.  

Taken together with the FDA’s June 2021 approval of Wegovy (semaglutide) for weight management, tirzepatide’s arrival on the market means “this is really the beginning of the windfall of weight loss drug utilization and costs for employers,” Chantell Sell Reagan, Pharm.D., director and national pharmacy clinical leader at WTW, tells AIS Health, a division of MMIT.