CVS Caremark will cover Lilly’s weight loss drug Zepbound once again

Health newsCVS Caremark will cover Lilly’s weight loss drug Zepbound once againThe pharmacy benefits manager also plans to add the weight loss pill Foundayo to its formulary next month.Listen to this article with a free account00:0000:00Eli Lilly's Zepbound.Jason Bergman / Sipa USA via Reuters fileShareAdd NBC News to GoogleMay 28, 2026, 6:45 AM EDTBy Berkeley Lovelace Jr.CVS Caremark will resume covering the weight loss drug Zepbound this year after it removed it from its list of covered medications last year, drugmaker Eli Lilly said Thursday.Subscribe to read this story ad-free Get unlimited access to ad-free articles and exclusive content.CVS Caremark is one of the country’s largest pharmacy benefit managers, deciding which medications millions of people in the U.S. can get through insurance and how much they pay out of pocket. The decision to remove Zepbound from CVS Caremark’s list of covered drugs, or formulary, last year sparked backlash from patients, who said they were forced to switch to rival drug Wegovy, from Novo Nordisk, despite having gotten better results on Zepbound. The move did not affect patients taking Lilly’s diabetes drug Mounjaro, which contains the same active ingredient as Zepbound.A class-action lawsuit challenging the decision was filed in September and remains active. Zepbound has a monthly list price of $1,086, although Lilly offers discounts for patients paying in cash. Even then, people can end up paying hundreds of dollars a month for the medication.Lilly said Thursday that Zepbound will return to CVS Caremark’s formulary by Oct. 1 and that some patients with private insurance could pay as little as a $25 copay.Foundayo, Lilly’s weight loss pill that was approved in April, will also be added to the list starting Monday. A CVS Caremark spokesperson said the change applies to its standard formulary, affecting about 25 million to 30 million people.Being added to the formulary does not guarantee the drugs will be covered by every i...