Thursday, October 15, 2026
Medicare launched its GLP-1 Bridge program in July, covering weight-loss drugs for certain enrollees at a $50 monthly copay. Meanwhile, commercial insurers have moved in the opposite direction — the number of people without coverage for Zepbound grew by 17 million in 2026. The gap between what the drugs cost and what payers will cover is widening.
Tirzepatide came off the FDA shortage list in December 2024 and semaglutide in February 2025. Ifosfamide, a decades-old chemotherapy used in curative regimens, is three months into a shortage the FDA expects to run into autumn and European regulators into 2027. Same country, same regulator, same manufacturing base.
The FDA has approved tirzepatide to reduce major cardiovascular events in adults with type 2 diabetes. The trial behind it compared the drug not with placebo but with dulaglutide, an older GLP-1 that already had the indication — and the result was non-inferiority, with an 8 percent lower event rate.