Eli Lilly’s Mounjaro joins China’s health insurance scheme, challenging competitors

SHANGHAI, Dec 8 (Reuters) – Eli Lilly and Co.’s popular drug Mounjaro will be added to China’s state-run health insurance scheme from Jan. 1 for patients with type 2 diabetes, the National Healthcare Security Administration said in a website notice on Sunday, a move which analysts say could put pressure on competitors. 

Inclusion in the national reimbursement list makes drugs more widely available to the public in a country with a population of 1.4 billion, but an increase in sales volume is often mitigated by lower prices.

Mounjaro, a once-weekly injectable therapy, was introduced in China in January this year following the launch of Ozempic, a similar diabetes therapy from rival Danish drugmaker Novo Nordisk, in 2021. 

Ozempic was first added to China’s reimbursement list in 2022. 

Sales of Ozempic in the greater China region rose to 5.76 billion Danish crowns ($898.5 million) in 2024, according to Novo’s annual report.

Indianapolis-headquartered Lilly said in a statement the final reimbursement prices for Mounjaro as a diabetes treatment “will be subject to National Healthcare Security Administration (NHSA)’s official announcement.” The NHSA did not immediately respond to a request for pricing.

Macquarie Capital analysts wrote in a note Monday that Mounjaro could take market share away from Novo and Innovent Biologics , another obesity and diabetes drugmaker. <...