To meet weight loss drug demand, Eli Lilly today has begun selling vials of the smallest, starter dose of its popular weight-loss drug Zepbound in the U.S. at about half the price – $399 – for a month's supply. That's a 50% discount compared to the list price of $1,000 a month for other GLP-1 obesity medicines.

Lilly is selling the smaller vials on its direct-to-consumer website, LillyDirect, to try to increase supplies in the marketplace, since many patients have health insurance that will not cover weight loss medications.

Zepbound is typically packaged in an auto-injector pen that contains both the drug and the needle. With the new vials, patients will be able to use a syringe to draw out their dose and then inject themselves. The vials will provide a more affordable option because it saves production time to make than injection pens, according to Lilly.