Transcript:
I’m Conway Gittens reporting from the New York Stock Exchange. Here’s what we’re watching today on TheStreet.
The Dow managed to eke out a gain, hitting a record close for the second day in a row. The gain wasn’t much, however, as investors were reluctant to make big moves ahead of Nvidia’s quarterly earnings. The AI chip giant will report its results on Wednesday… and it’s not alone – Salesforce, Crowdstrike and HP will also report.
In other business headlines: Eli Lilly has launched a direct-to-consumer version of its popular weight-loss drug Zepbound — and this version costs about half the price. Now you can get a 2.5-milligram single-dose bottle for four weeks for $399 a month, and a 5-milligram dose for $549.
Zepbound is one of the new successful GLP-1 weight loss drugs on the market. Lilly hopes to eliminate counterfeiters, imitators and various telemedicine companies that are offering this blockbuster class of drugs to millions of Americans without health insurance.
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In a statement, Eli Lilly said: “Distributing the vials through this channel provides patients and providers with the assurance that they are receiving genuine Lilly medicines. This builds on the company’s efforts to protect the public from the dangers posed by the proliferation of counterfeit, counterfeit, unsafe or untested imitations of Lilly medicines.”
Patients with a prescription who wish to purchase Zepbound directly from Eli Lilly can do so through LillyDirect, which partners with a third-party digital pharmacy called Gifthealth.
This direct sales model also opens up a new consumer base, since GLP-1 drugs are not covered by Medicare or some private health insurance plans.
But that hasn’t diminished their popularity. Weight-loss drugs like Zepbound, Mounjaro and Wegovy cost about $1,000 a month, before insurance and other copays.
That’s it for your daily briefing. From the New York Stock Exchange, I’m Conway Gittens with TheStreet.
