Express Scripts, one of the nation’s largest pharmacy benefit managers, reportedly plans to include Novo Nordisk‘s (NYSE:NVO) once-weekly Type II diabetes, Ozempic, on its 2018 formulary.
The move puts Ozempic directly in competition with Eli Lilly‘s (NYSE:LLY) once-weekly Trulicity drug. Both products will also go up against AstraZeneca‘s (NYSE:AZN) once-weekly Bydureon medication.
All three drugs belong to a class of products known as glucagon-like peptide-1 analogs, which mimic an intestinal hormone to trigger insulin production in people with diabetes.
A spokesperson for Novo Nordisk told Reuters that being a part of Express Script’s formulary grants the company access to a “single-digit share” of the overall GLP-1 market in the U.S.
In one 40-week trial involving 1,200 patients, Ozempic succeeded in lowering glucose levels in patients with Type II diabetes and demonstrated statistically significant results compared to Lilly’s compound.
NVO shares were trading at $52.10 apiece today in mid-afternoon activity, up 2.2%.
