By Kelly Cloonan
Shares of weight loss drug stocks declined in post-market trading after The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services said it is not finalizing a provision that would have provided coverage for anti-obesity medications.
Shares of Eli Lilly, the seller of Zepbound, were down 2.7% to $718.50 after the close on Friday. Novo Nordisk, the maker of Wegovy, saw its stock decline 1.4% to $61.67. Shares of Hims & Hers, a health and wellness platform, lost less than 1% to decline to $25.86.
CMS said it is not finalizing the provision at this time, and may address it in future rulemaking as appropriate.
Currently, anti-obesity medications are only covered under Medicare Part D for other FDA-approved indications such as Type 2 diabetes or cardiovascular disease.
The provision would have expanded coverage to about 3.4 million Medicare beneficiaries who have obesity not combined with a condition for which these medications are already covered, according to a November paper from the Health and Human Services Department.
Write to Kelly Cloonan at kelly.cloonan@wsj.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
April 04, 2025 17:44 ET (21:44 GMT)
Copyright (c) 2025 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.
Disclaimer: Investing carries risk. This is not financial advice. The above content should not be regarded as an offer, recommendation, or solicitation on acquiring or disposing of any financial products, any associated discussions, comments, or posts by author or other users should not be considered as such either. It is solely for general information purpose only, which does not consider your own investment objectives, financial situations or needs. TTM assumes no responsibility or warranty for the accuracy and completeness of the information, investors should do their own research and may seek professional advice before investing.