China adds Eli Lilly's Mounjaro to state insurance list for type 2 diabetes

China's National Healthcare Security Administration said Mounjaro, Eli Lilly's tirzepatide injection, will be added to the country's state-run health insurance scheme from January 1 for patients with type 2 diabetes, Reuters reported on December 8 ^[1]. The agency announced the decision in a notice on its website ^[1].

Mounjaro is a once-weekly injectable therapy. It was introduced in China in January 2025, following the launch of Ozempic, a similar diabetes therapy from Novo Nordisk, in 2021 ^[1]. Ozempic was first added to China's reimbursement list in 2022 ^[1]. Sales of Ozempic in the greater China region rose to 5.76 billion Danish crowns, or about $898.5 million, in 2024, according to Novo's annual report ^[1].

Being on the national reimbursement list makes a drug more widely available to the public in a country of 1.4 billion people, but the increase in sales volume is often offset by lower prices ^[1]. Lilly said in a statement that the final reimbursement prices for Mounjaro as a diabetes treatment "will be subject to National Healthcare Security Administration (NHSA)'s official announcement" ^[1]. The NHSA did not immediately respond to a request for pricing ^[1]. The size of any price reduction has not been disclosed.

Analysts at Macquarie Capital wrote in a Monday note that Mounjaro could take market share away from Novo and from Innovent Biologics, another obesity and diabetes drugmaker ^[1]. "Even if approved and reimbursed only for diabetes, Chinese patients are too smart. Tirzepatide will be used off-label for obesity," Tony Ren, head of Asia healthcare research at Macquarie Capital, told Reuters ^[1]. Mounjaro is also sold for obesity and obstructive sleep apnea in China ^[1].

"Although obesity treatments are typically priced at a premium compared to diabetes, the price cut for Mounjaro is likely to reshape the overall pricing structure for GLP-1 drugs, which could also affect Innovent's mazdutide pricing," Cui Cui, head of Asia healthcare at Jefferies, told Reuters ^[1]. Shares in Innovent Biologics, which is approved to sell the diabetes and obesity drug mazdutide in China, fell about 7% on Monday ^[1].

Patrik Jonsson, Eli Lilly's international president, said on an October earnings call that Lilly had seen an "initial stocking" in markets where it had launched Mounjaro outside the U.S., with the large ones in the second quarter being China, Brazil, Mexico and India ^[1]. "Since then, we have seen a lift in the performance also in those markets in Q3 and a continued very strong performance globally," he said during that call ^[1].

Why it matters for patients

The decision applies to China's state insurance scheme for type 2 diabetes. It does not change how Mounjaro, or Zepbound, the same tirzepatide molecule, is covered or priced in the United States, and no effect on U.S. insurance coverage or U.S. list prices has been reported ^[1].

The price China's scheme will pay for Mounjaro has not been disclosed, so how far the reimbursement lowers the cost to Chinese patients is not yet known ^[1]. Reuters reported that reimbursement typically brings wider availability alongside lower prices, but the specific terms were left to a future NHSA announcement ^[1].

One point raised by analysts is that a diabetes-only label does not guarantee diabetes-only use. Ren predicted tirzepatide would be used off-label for obesity in China ^[1]. Off-label use is a prescribing decision made by clinicians, and the source does not say how common it is there.

Whether Chinese pricing for GLP-1 drugs influences prices in the U.S. market is not established in the reporting. Cui said the Mounjaro price cut is likely to reshape the pricing structure for GLP-1 drugs; that comment concerned the Chinese market and Innovent's mazdutide ^[1].

What happens next

The reimbursement takes effect January 1 ^[1]. Lilly has said the final prices for Mounjaro as a diabetes treatment depend on the NHSA's official announcement, which had not been issued when the Reuters report was published ^[1]. The NHSA had not responded to questions about pricing ^[1].