NEW YORK, Jan 9, 2026, 10:12 (EST)
- Amazon Pharmacy said it will offer Novo Nordisk’s Wegovy weight-loss pill through insurance and cash-pay routes.
- Investors are watching whether wider access for the new oral drug can lift demand and steady pricing.
- Research notes flagged a split view on Novo’s 2026 setup, from bearish ratings to bullish pipeline bets.
Amazon Pharmacy said on Friday it now offers Novo Nordisk’s Wegovy weight-loss pill through insurance plans and a cash-pay option, with uninsured customers paying from $149 a month and some commercially insured customers paying $25 for a one-month supply. Amazon said it will add the pill to its pharmacy kiosks in the coming weeks and is working with telehealth firms including WeightWatchers, Wheel and 9amHealth; Novo has said the pill will also be available through CVS, Costco and other telehealth services such as Ro, LifeMD and GoodRx. The U.S. FDA approved the once-daily semaglutide pill in December; semaglutide is the active ingredient in injectable Wegovy and diabetes drug Ozempic, and Reuters said the pill’s success is tied to cash-paying consumers who cannot get coverage. (Reuters)
That shift matters because obesity drugs have mostly been sold through insurers, with list prices and rebates doing the messy work in the background. A simple “pay cash, get the pill” offer, pushed through a major retail channel, tests how much demand sits outside the usual reimbursement system — and how fast drugmakers will have to adjust.
Amazon framed the move as part of a push to reduce friction at the pharmacy counter, including side-by-side price comparisons between insurance and cash options. “By offering Wegovy through both insurance and a straightforward cash-pay option, we’re giving people more choice, greater transparency, and fewer barriers to care,” Tanvi Patel, vice president and general manager of Amazon Pharmacy, said in a statement. (Business Wire)
Novo’s U.S.-listed ADRs were up about 5% at $60.19 in morning trading.
A Zacks Investment Research note on Thursday put Novo’s last close at $57.34, up 1.36% on the day, and said the company is expected to post earnings per share — profit per share — of $0.90 on revenue of $12.11 billion for the next quarter. For the full year, the note cited consensus estimates of $3.57 per share on $47.95 billion of revenue and pegged Novo’s forward P/E, a price-to-earnings measure based on expected profit, at 16.13; it also listed Novo at a Zacks Rank #5, “Strong Sell.” (Finviz)
A more upbeat take came from Seeking Alpha contributor Louis Gerard, who called Novo his “top opportunity for 2026” and pointed to the Wegovy pill’s FDA approval and “aggressive pricing” as near-term catalysts. Gerard also highlighted pipeline candidates CagriSema and Amycretin, writing that early data looked promising, and said the stock offered “124% DCF-upside” — a discounted cash flow estimate that values a company by projecting future cash. (Seeking Alpha)
The competitive backdrop is hard to ignore. Eli Lilly remains the rival investors use as the yardstick in obesity drugs, and every new delivery channel or dose form becomes another point in a fight that is increasingly about access and follow-on products, not just headlines.
Still, a broader storefront does not guarantee smoother economics. Coverage will vary by plan, cash buyers are price-sensitive by definition, and any stumble on supply or patient uptake can quickly show up in prescriptions — the metric Wall Street watches when the story moves from launch to reality.
