CVS Caremark will cover Lilly’s weight loss drug Zepbound again after patient backlash

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.

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.

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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.