Is Nevolat the more affordable GLP-1?

Before you choose a weight loss injection, you might want to look at how much it will cost compared to other available treatments.

The amount of time you use a treatment for, how much weight you want to lose, and how often you need to top up your medication can all factor into what you’ll spend during your plan.

Here are some reasons why choosing Nevolat might work out cheaper than other GLP-1s.

Nevolat is a generic medication

Nevolat is the ‘generic’ equivalent of Saxenda. Generic medications work the same as the originals and are usually cheaper. This is often because when a medication’s patent expires, more manufacturers start to make it and the cost of generic versions tends to decrease.  

The cost of increasing Nevolat doses is cheaper

The initial cost of using Nevolat might be similar to other GLP-1s, but you’ll reach the maintenance dose of 3mg a day after using the pen for only five weeks. This is different from Wegovy and Mounjaro, where the doses increase monthly.

Once you’re using the 3mg Nevolat pen, you’ll remain on this dose each day throughout your treatment. This means you won’t switch to a more expensive pen. You’ll need to switch pens every six days, but in theory, the cost of each pen should be the same throughout your whole Nevolat treatment plan. With Mounjaro and Wegovy, the cost of the pens rises as the doses go up. 

We say ‘in theory’ because this scenario doesn’t take into account the possibility of Nevolat prices being increased as a whole during the course of your treatment. Certain factors, such as the availability of the treatment or the components required to make it or distribution costs, can prompt drug manufacturers to increase their prices. 

The maintenance cost is lower than other GLP-1s

If you’re prescribed Nevolat, you’ll start on a daily dose of 0.6mg, which will increase by 0.6mg each week until week five, where you’ll have reached the maximum daily dose of 3mg.

Nevolat pens are pre-filled, however, which means you’ll change the dose each week using the dose selector rather than ordering a fresh pen. And because of the dose titration (meaning you gradually move up through the doses), the first pen you order will last longer than the second, and so forth, because you’re injecting less medication in the first week than you are in subsequent weeks. Once you reach the maintenance dose of 3mg, each pen will last for six days.

So at the maintenance dose of 3mg a day, you’d need five pens for a month’s (30 days) supply of medication, but this price won’t increase again for the rest of your treatment plan.

For example, here are the differences between doses of Mounjaro using Treated prices as a reference:

• 2.5mg and 5mg pens: £279.95 each.
• 7.5mg and 10mg pens: £379.95 each.
• 12.5mg and 15mg pens: £449.95 each.

Nevolat is available from Treated in packs of either three, or five pens:

• Pack of three pens: £169.95.
• Pack of five pens: £279.95.

So at the 3mg maintenance dose, a five-pack of Nevolat pens would cost you £279.95 and last for 30 days, which is the same cost as a month’s worth of the 2.5mg and 5mg strength Mounjaro pens.

People might find that the 5mg dose of Mounjaro works well enough as a maintenance dose, and decide to stay on it. But following the typical treatment plan, you’d move up to the 7.5mg dose pen and higher, which means per month you would start paying more than you would using Nevolat.

And here are the different costs between the different doses of Wegovy:

• 0.25mg, 0.5mg and 1mg pens: £169.95.
• 1.7mg pens: £249.95.
• 2.4mg pens: £339.95.

Like the 5mg dose of Mounjaro, people using Wegovy might find that the 1.7mg strength pen works well as a maintenance dose, in which case a month’s supply would cost roughly the same as a month’s supply of Nevolat at maintenance dose. But there is a higher strength 2.4mg Wegovy pen which you would usually be advised to move up to, so this is something to consider when thinking of the costs involved.

How much does Nevolat cost long-term?

Using our current prices, here is a breakdown of what using Nevolat for 72 weeks would look like compared with Mounjaro and Wegovy as they are typically prescribed.

Efficacy rates for GLP-1s such as semaglutide, tirzepatide and liraglutide have been measured in 72-week clinical trials. So we’ve used 72 weeks as our benchmark for stopping treatment.

Nevolat overall cost after 72 weeks: £4649.15

A pack of three pens at £169.95 would last you for your first month of treatment as you move up through the doses. After this, you’ll need five pens a month (six days per pen), and the cost of five pens is £279.95.

Wegovy overall cost after 72 weeks: £5519.10

If you’re using Wegovy and follow the typical dosage titration, a month’s supply will cost £169.95 for the first three months. The price will then increase to £249.95 for the fourth month, and then £339.95 for each subsequent month in your treatment plan.

Mounjaro overall cost after 72 weeks: £7619.10

This cost is based on buying one pen at a time. For the first eight weeks of treatment, you’ll typically use the 2.5mg and 5mg Mounjaro pens, which cost £279.95 each. This increases to 7.5mg and 10mg (£379.95 per pen) for months three and four. In month five you’ll use 12.5mg and from month six onwards, you’ll use 15mg (£449.95 per pen).

These costs are also based on moving up through the doses as Mounjaro is usually prescribed. The 12.5mg and 15mg dose pens cost £449.95 each, but you might find that the 10mg pens work well enough as a maintenance dose.

You may also be able to save money by buying more than one pen at a time.

When used for 72 weeks, tirzepatide (Mounjaro) was shown to be more effective than semaglutide (Wegovy) for weight loss in clinical trials. While it might not work as effectively as both of these treatments, a 56-week study found that Nevolat helped people lose an average weight loss of 8.4kg.

Nevolat has a lower ceiling on dose increases

As we’ve seen in the cost breakdowns above, there is a price cap for what you’ll pay each month for Nevolat, due to a ‘lower ceiling’ on dose increases; once you reach 3mg, you can’t go any higher.

When someone reaches the 1mg dose of Wegovy, or the 7.5mg dose of Mounjaro, they might have been counting on staying on this as a maintenance dose. But they could find this amount doesn’t give them the rate of weight loss they want, and so feel as though they have to increase the strength of their pen. This is another thing to consider with Nevolat – there’s only one maintenance dose, so you can rely on the ongoing price being the same.