Health
Cigna Aims to Broaden Obesity Drug Coverage With Financial Guarantees
- Program offers to cap spending increases for GLP-1 treatments
- Employers face surging costs as drugs’ popularity rises
The Cigna Group in Bloomfield, Connecticut, US.
Photographer: Joe Buglewicz/BloombergThis article is for subscribers only.
Cigna Group has struck deals with obesity drug makers Eli Lilly & Co. and Novo Nordisk A/S that aim to widen coverage by limiting how much employer-sponsored health plans have to pay for the medicines.
The agreements by the company’s pharmacy benefits manager are part of a pitch to employers alarmed by spiking costs for popular new weight-loss treatments including Novo’s Wegovy and Lilly’s Zepbound. Cigna says its program will limit spending increases for the class of drugs, known as GLP-1s, to a maximum of 15% annually. The company called it the first such financial guarantee on the market.