Nearly a year after CVS Caremark dropped Eli Lilly’s blockbuster Zepbound from its standard coverage plan, causing anxiety for thousands of patients and prescribers, the pharmacy benefit manager announced it will add the popular weight loss drug back to its typical insurance plan.
Starting Oct. 1, 2026, CVS Caremark will add Zepbound, a tirzepatide injectable drug, as a preferred option to its standard formulary, or list of medicines that patients can get covered by insurance, CVS Caremark announced May 28.
Starting June 1, CVS Caremark will also cover Foundayo, Lilly’s once-daily oral weight loss medicine that hit the market in April. Currently, Caremark has a new-to-market label on Foundayo as the pharmacy benefit manager has been reviewing the drug.
These changes mean Lilly’s full obesity medicine portfolio is covered by the three largest pharmacy benefit managers, who negotiate drug prices with drugmakers and insurance providers. It will also increase access to affordable weight loss drugs for people on the prescription plans.
CVS Caremark has covered Wegovy, Novo Nordisk’s GLP-1 injectable, as its preferred option since July 2025 when it dropped Zepbound.
Weight loss drug use in the United States has exploded over the past five years since Wegovy hit the market in 2021. Drugs like Ozempic, Zepbound and Wegovy have become household names as millions of people turn to the medicines to shed weight or help with other health conditions like type 2 diabetes.
CVS Caremark President Ed DeVaney said in a news release the PBM added Zepbound back to the formulary based on customer feedback and calls for more affordable access to the class of weight loss drugs.
“We acted boldly through active engagement and negotiation with our drug manufacturer partners to tackle affordability and access for our customers and their members,” DeVaney said.
Lilly executives noted that not all patients respond the same way to different drugs, meaning more options will help patients achieve better health results.
“For too long, effective obesity treatment has been out of reach for the people who need it,” said Ilya Yuffa, executive vice president and president of Lilly USA and global customer capabilities in a statement. “Not all medicines work the same way for patients. Broader coverage puts real choice in the hands of millions of Americans and their doctors.”
About 25 to 30 million people are covered by the CVS Caremark standard formulary, and thousands on the formulary take a form of GLP-1 drug.
Reintroducing Zepbound comes as welcome news for Lilly, who last year faced tough questions from investors on the financial impact of not having Zepbound on the CVS Caremark formularies. Last year removing Zepbound from the formulary forced thousands of patients to consider whether they wanted to stop taking weight loss medicine or switch to Wegovy, an injectable drug that uses a different compound.
According to Lilly, Zepbound is the most-prescribed injectable weight loss drug on the market. Shares of Lilly were up nearly 5% late Thursday morning following the announcement.
When the change takes effect, the country’s three largest pharmacy benefit managers will cover a wide range of GLP-1 weight loss drugs for patients. The three largest PBMs, CVS Caremark, Express Scripts and OptumRx, control about 80% of prescription claims nationally.
Over the past year, Lilly increased direct-to-consumer access of Zepbound through its LillyDirect service to counter the limited access offered by CVS Caremark. But without insurance, weight loss drugs can be out-of-reach and unaffordable for many patients with prescriptions.
Through LillyDirect, the lowest dose of Zepbound is $299 a month without insurance. With insurance, eligible patients can pay as little as $25 a month, Lilly said.
Alysa Guffey writes business and development stories for IndyStar. Contact her at alysa.guffey@indystar.com.
This article originally appeared on Indianapolis Star: CVS adds Zepbound back to preferred coverage in win for Eli Lilly
Reporting by Alysa Guffey, Indianapolis Star / Indianapolis Star
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