China’s Affordable Ozempic Jabs: Nearly 15 Times Cheaper Than US

• China’s Ozempic jabs are nearly 15 times cheaper than in the US.
• The relatively low prices stem from the government’s policy of negotiating prices with drugmakers.
• Customers can even get their Ozempic jabs from online pharmacies via a quick digital consultation.

If you’re hunting for the wonder weight loss jab Ozempic in the US, you’ve got to be prepared to shell out close to a thousand dollars. That’s not the case in China: The Chinese government’s immense leverage over drugmakers has helped make the Ozempic jabs nearly 15 times cheaper there than in the US.

And that’s not all — you can buy the jabs online in a three-step process. 

There’s a reason behind the ease of access to the drugs and the dirt-cheap price they’re sold at: The Chinese government negotiates drug prices directly with pharmaceutical companies. Under a 2017 policy implemented by Beijing to expand access to various medicines, drugmakers have to negotiate their prices directly with the government if they want their products to be covered by China’s state-funded medical insurance scheme.

So in China, Ozempic jabs cost 478 Chinese yuan, or $67, per China’s National Reimbursement Drugs List (NRDL). That price stands in stark contrast to the US, where an Ozempic injection costs $995, per the pharmaceutical website Drugs.com.

James Leong, the Asia-Pacific head of marketing at BASF Pharma Solutions, told Insider that the NRDL is the “most important market access channel in China for drug manufacturers,” and a pathway to a “significant increase in sales” for companies. 

However, negotiating with the Chinese government to secure market access to the China pharma market comes with a catch. Drugmakers need to swallow hefty price cuts in exchange for getting their drugs listed on the NRDL. In December 2021, drugmakers had to slash prices by 61.7% on average for 67 medicines just to be included in the NRDL, per Reuters.

In China, you can get your hands on Ozempic easily if you know where to look

It’s clear, however, that the average Chinese consumer reaps the benefits of Ozempic being on the NRDL — the drug’s not only far cheaper than it is abroad, but it’s also readily available online at heavily slashed prices.

“In the case of Ozempic, although it is a prescription drug, it is readily available on e-commerce platforms, such as JD online pharmacy, if one is willing to pay a higher out-of-pocket price,” said Leong. Leong was referring to online retailer JD.com, a mega e-commerce platform similar to the Amazon-esque Taobao. 

Another upside: Chinese customers don’t need to head down to hospitals to get their prescriptions.

Bruce Liu, a partner at global consulting firm Simon Kucher & Partners, told Insider that “community clinics and qualified online hospitals” are allowed to prescribe medication too. It’s even more convenient now for people to secure weight loss jabs, considering the COVID-era boom in the number of digital pharmacies in China. 

When Insider attempted to purchase Ozempic jabs via Taobao, China’s version of Amazon, the verification process required one to fill in a legitimate resident identification number and make a health declaration. But it took Insider less than three clicks through the app — and under one minute — to get from searching for the jabs to the checkout page. 

Ozempic can be bought from China e-commerce sites such as Taobao (pictured above).
Chinese buyers need to indicate the identification number on their resident identity cards (marked by the red oval) and make a health declaration (marked by the blue oval) before checkout.

Insider

The need to make a health declaration and provide one’s ID number certainly hasn’t deterred Chinese buyers from getting their hands on the Ozempic jabs. Some satisfied customers touted the amount of weight they’d successfully lost on the buyer review pages on Taobao.

“I lost two kilograms in one week,” read a review for one listing. 

“Very good! I lost 20 kilograms in the third month,” read a review for another listing. 

The lower prices come at the expense of the drugmakers forced to swallow hefty price cuts

A staff member packing medication at a pharmacy in China.

STR/AFP via Getty Images

Experts told Insider the NRDL is one of the most effective ways for China to keep drug prices affordable.

“In my view, the NRDL enhances the Chinese government’s fiscal sustainability, balancing access to treatments with the financial feasibility of the reimbursement program,” Xi Chen, Associate Professor of Health Policy & Economics at Yale University, told Insider. 

Simon Kucher & Partners’ Liu told Insider that the NRDL system isn’t widely abused because patients still have to fork out around 20% to 30% of the cost of drugs — it’s by no means a full subsidy. But the cheaper prices are at the expense of the drugmakers and pharmaceutical firms that may struggle to recoup their research costs. 

“If the negotiated prices are too low, it may create financial challenges for companies, particularly those that have invested significant resources in R&D,” said Chen.

“Moreover, the NRDL undergoes regular updates and revisions, and drugs can be removed from the list. This uncertainty can pose risks to companies that have made substantial investments in drug development, as they may not recoup their R&D costs if the drug is no longer eligible for reimbursement,” Chen continued. 

Nonetheless, the size of the Chinese market has made it difficult for drugmakers to pass up the chance to dive in. China is the world’s second-largest healthcare market, per the International Trade Administration, 

“Although innovative pharma companies will need to sell their new drugs at a lower price in China, compared to Western countries, the sheer size of China market will be able to compensate the R&D cost for drug development,” BASF Pharma Solutions’ Leong told Insider. 

A representative for Novo Nordisk, the manufacturer of Ozempic, told Insider that it is “difficult to compare prices in different countries” as every country “approaches pricing of medicines in different ways.”

“For Ozempic, the US list price is not indicative of what a patient will pay out-of-pocket when treatment is covered by insurance. China is a completely different market with a different way of pricing prescription medication,” said Ambre James-Brown, a vice president at Novo Nordisk’s media department.