Novo Nordisk on Tuesday said it plans to slash the monthly list prices of its popular obesity and diabetes drugs in the U.S. by up to 50% starting in 2027, in a bid to make the treatments more accessible to patients with insurance coverage. 

The obesity injection Wegovy, its new pill counterpart, the diabetes shot Ozempic and the oral diabetes drug Rybelsus will have a new lower list price of $675 per month starting on Jan. 1, 2027. The Wegovy medicines both currently have list prices of around $1,350 per month, while the diabetes drugs have list prices of around $1,027 per month.

For the first time, Novo said its price cuts are targeting insured patients whose out-of-pocket costs are linked to list prices, such as people with high-deductible health plans or co-insurance benefit designs. It’s unclear how much those patients typically pay out of pocket, but Novo says people with commercial insurance may pay as little as $25 per month for its drugs.

The Danish drugmaker has previously cut the direct-to-consumer prices of Wegovy and Ozempic, which primarily benefit cash-paying patients who often don’t have insurance coverage for the drugs. 

Novo offers its drugs to cash-paying patients for $149 to $499 per month, depending on the specific product and dose. Novo and its chief rival Eli Lilly have escalated a GLP-1 pricing war over the last year, especially following the landmark “most favored nation” deals they struck with President Donald Trump in November.

The move could help Novo stay more competitive with Lilly, which now holds the majority share in the blockbuster GLP-1 market. Lilly’s more effective drugs and earlier foray into the direct-to-consumer space have allowed it to take the lead in the space, but the company has yet to significantly lower the U.S. list prices of its medicines.

“Private and public payers, as well as patients, want access and have been calling for lower list prices,” Jamey Millar, Novo Nordisk’s head of U.S. operations, said in a statement. “Our actions today answer that call and remove cost barriers so the value of Wegovy and Ozempic can be realized by more patients.”

The move also coincides with new, lower Medicare prices going into effect for Novo’s obesity and diabetes drugs in 2027 following negotiations with the federal government under the Inflation Reduction Act. The new negotiated prices for Wegovy, Ozempic and Rybelsus will be $274 per month.

Warner Bros. Discovery on Tuesday said it had received a higher takeover offer from Paramount Skydance and will review the new bid under the terms of its existing deal with Netflix.

Last week, WBD announced it would re-engage Paramount in deal talks under a seven-day waiver from Netflix. WBD and Netflix have an agreement to sell the legacy media group’s studio and streaming businesses to the streamer. Paramount is seeking to buy the entirety of WBD.

“Following engagement with PSKY during the seven-day limited waiver period, we received a revised PSKY proposal to acquire WBD, which we are reviewing in consultation with our financial and legal advisors,” WBD said in a statement. “We will update our shareholders following the Board’s review. The Netflix merger agreement remains in effect, and the Board continues to recommend in favor of the Netflix transaction. WBD shareholders are advised not to take any action at this time with respect to the amended PSKY tender offer.”

Paramount in a statement confirmed it had submitted a revised bid and said it will continue with its previously announced tender offer while the WBD board reviews both deals.

If WBD deems the new Paramount offer superior, Netflix will have four days to improve its previously agreed-upon bid. Netflix agreed to acquire WBD’s studio and streaming assets for $27.75 per share in December, valuing the assets around $72 billion, with a total enterprise value of approximately $82.7 billion.

Paramount subsequently launched a hostile tender offer to WBD shareholders for $30 per share for all of WBD, which includes linear cable networks such as CNN, TBS, HGTV and TNT and digital assets including Bleacher Report and House of Highlights.

If WBD concludes Paramount’s new offer is superior and Netflix doesn’t alter its bid, Netflix will receive a $2.8 billion breakup fee. Paramount has agreed to fund that fee as part of a previously altered hostile bid.

A combined Paramount-WBD would bring together HBO Max with Paramount+ along with merging two of the five largest movie studios by revenue — Warner Bros. and Paramount Skydance Studios. It would also put CNN and CBS News under one ownership structure.

Both the Netflix-WBD deal and a potential Paramount-WBD merger would need U.S. and European regulatory approval for completion, and both deals have raised antitrust concerns among critics.