Novo Nordisk cuts self-pay price of Wegovy and Ozempic to $199 for first two months

Novo Nordisk said on Nov. 17, 2025 that new self-paying patients in the United States can get Wegovy or Ozempic for $199 a month for their first two months, then pay $349 a month after that ^[4]. The company also cut its standard self-pay price for both drugs from $499 to $349 a month the same day ^[4].

The introductory price applies to the two lowest doses of Wegovy injection (0.25 mg and 0.5 mg) and to Ozempic, and is available for fills between Nov. 17, 2025 and March 31, 2026 ^[4]. Novo Nordisk said the $199 rate covers the first two months of therapy ^[4]. One dose is excluded from the price cut: the self-pay cost of Ozempic 2 mg stays at $499 a month ^[4].

Self-pay means the patient pays without using insurance ^[3][4]. Novo Nordisk said the pricing is available directly through wegovy.com or ozempic.com for use at more than 70,000 pharmacies, through NovoCare Pharmacy with home delivery or pickup at more than 9,000 CVS locations, and through participating organizations and telehealth providers including Costco, GoodRx, WeightWatchers, Ro, LifeMD and eMed ^[4].

Costco members were offered a similar deal. Costco, working with the telehealth company Sesame, told members they could get Ozempic and Wegovy injections for $349 per four-week supply without insurance, with the first two months at $199 a month for patients new to the drugs ^[3]. That listing describes a flat $349 and does not mention the $499 exception for Ozempic 2 mg that Novo Nordisk's announcement includes ^[3][4].

For comparison, the same listing put the list price of Ozempic at about $968 a month and Wegovy at about $1,349 a month ^[3]. A separate drug pricing reference lists Ozempic's list price at $1,027.51 per pen ^[5]. List price is the manufacturer's set price before discounts or rebates, and most patients do not pay it ^[5]. Novo Nordisk says qualifying patients with commercial insurance can pay as little as $25 a month for Ozempic or as little as $0 a month for Wegovy ^[4][5].

Why it matters for patients

The $199 price is a reduction for people who pay cash, but it is limited in three ways: it lasts two months, it covers only the lowest doses, and it is scheduled to end for new fills after March 31, 2026 ^[4]. Patients who move up in dose should expect the standard self-pay price, which is $349 a month for most doses and $499 for Ozempic 2 mg ^[4][5].

These offers operate outside insurance. Under the savings program terms, the money a patient spends does not count toward an insurance deductible or out-of-pocket limit and cannot be submitted to an insurer for reimbursement ^[2]. Patients must be at least 18, live in the U.S. or a U.S. territory, and have a valid prescription ^[2]. People covered by Medicare, Medicaid, VA, TRICARE or other government programs can use the self-pay price, but under the program terms they cannot seek reimbursement from those programs or count the cost toward a deductible or out-of-pocket limit ^[2].

Novo Nordisk described the offers as part of a push to expand access to its FDA-approved semaglutide medicines and to steer patients away from compounded "semaglutide" products, which the company called risky and potentially unsafe ^[4]. Compounded semaglutide had been allowed during a supply shortage that the FDA declared over on Feb. 21, 2025 ^[3].

What happens next

The introductory price is listed as available through March 31, 2026 ^[4]. Novo Nordisk said the lower self-pay prices follow an agreement with the US Administration to lower prices in the direct-to-patient, self-pay channel in 2026, and that it brought the prices forward months ahead of that commitment ^[4]. The announcement did not describe other terms of that agreement ^[4].

Novo Nordisk also sells an oral form of Wegovy. The pill was approved at the end of 2025 as the first oral GLP-1 for chronic weight management, and it is expected to cost between $149 and $299 a month depending on dose, with some commercially insured patients paying as little as $25 a month ^[1]. The $199 introductory offer announced Nov. 17 covers the Wegovy injection at 0.25 mg and 0.5 mg and Ozempic, not the Wegovy pill ^[4].