More than 1 in 10 U.S. adults is currently taking a GLP-1 weight-loss drug. And these medicines are getting cheaper seemingly by the day.Since Wegovy launched, its list price has fallen from roughly $1,300 per month to between $300 and $500 per month. Similarly, Zepbound was once about $1,000 per month, but it now costs about $350. The cash prices, for patients not paying with insurance, are even lower.These price drops are no accident. They’re the result of intense competition between rival drug companies — and strong patent protections.
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That might sound counterintuitive. After all, critics of the pharmaceutical industry often claim that drug companies game the patent system to prevent competition and keep prices high. It’s a simple, intuitive narrative. But it’s detached from the reality of pharmaceutical innovation.
In reality, patents don’t give the inventor monopoly pricing power — they encourage market entry.
Patents give innovators and investors the security they need to pursue expensive, risky, and time-consuming research. If inventors make a breakthrough, they know they’ll be able to protect their discoveries, sell them exclusively, and, hopefully, recoup their costs of development and earn a return on investment.
