Pharmaceutical Companies Are Spending Big Money on Weight-Loss Drug Lobbying

Pharmaceutical companies spent big money late last year lobbying the federal government on weight-loss drugs as scrutiny around the price of GLP-1 medications increased, according to new lobbying disclosures reviewed by NOTUS.

Companies such as Ozempic and Wegovy manufacturer Novo Nordisk and Mounjaro manufacturer Eli Lilly publicly reached deals with the Trump administration to lower the cost of their blockbuster weight loss drugs for patients paying with cash or using insurance, including Medicare and Medicaid.

But behind the scenes, they continued to pay lobbyists to lobby on issues such as “the pricing of GLP-1 therapeutic products” and “Medicare coverage of anti-obesity medicines.”

It’s a sign of how even as pharmaceutical companies try to play nice with the Trump administration, they’re not ignorant to the challenges the president’s pledge to lower drug costs poses to their bottom line — especially when it comes to skyrocketing GLP-1 spending.

A Novo Nordisk spokesperson told NOTUS via email that the company “has publicly and openly advocated for changes to our health care system to benefit patients, and as part of those efforts, we participate in advocacy and lobbying.” Overall, the company spent $2.12 million on lobbying during the fourth quarter of 2025 and $1.24 million during the same period in 2024.

“Our business practices fully comply with applicable law and reflect our unwavering commitment to ethical business conduct,” the spokesperson added.

Eli Lilly, which spent $2.2 million on federal-level lobbying during the fourth quarter of 2025, an increase from the $1.9 million it spent at the same time in 2024, declined to comment on their GLP-1 lobbying goals.

Even pharmaceutical companies without GLP-1 medications on the market lobbied on weight loss drug pricing, including Boehringer Ingelheim, which has several weight loss drugs in clinical trials.

The German company spent $580,000 on lobbying during the fourth quarter of 2025, including on the Treat and Reduce Obesity Act, which would allow Medicare Part D to cover weight loss drugs.

Johnson & Johnson also lobbied around obesity treatments, despite not having a GLP-1 drug in its portfolio.

Neither Boehringer Ingelheim nor Johnson & Johnson responded to requests for comment.

President Donald Trump’s push to lower prescription drug costs has taken a hard-line turn in his second administration.

In May, he signed an executive order calling for pharmaceutical companies to lower prices for their medications for U.S. consumers to those they charge in other peer nations, known as “most-favored-nation” pricing.

In July, he sent letters to 17 pharmaceutical company executives giving them a 60-day deadline to meet his demands, which included offering most-favored-nation-priced medications directly to consumers. In September, Trump posted on Truth Social that pharmaceutical companies not actively building manufacturing capabilities in the U.S. would be subjected to 100% tariffs on any imported pharmaceutical products.

Pharmaceutical companies responded swiftly: To date, 16 of the 17 companies that received letters from the Trump administration have entered agreements with the Trump administration.

Boehringer Ingelheim reached an agreement late last year with the Trump administration to follow its most-favored-nation pricing guidelines, while Johnson & Johnson reached an agreement earlier this month.

The CEO of the only company that has not yet entered a most-favored-nation agreement, Regeneron, has said that discussions are ongoing. The agreements so far have included varying levels of investment in U.S. manufacturing, most-favored-nation pricing and pledges to make their drugs available to consumers via TrumpRx.gov, a new pricing portal that’s set to launch later this year.

“This is the biggest thing having to do with drugs in the history of the purchase of drugs,” Trump said at a press event late last year announcing deals with nine pharmaceutical companies. “Starting next year American drug prices will come down fast and furious.”

President Donald Trump, left, shakes the hand of Novo Nordisk President and CEO Mike Doustdar during an event about drug prices on Nov. 6, 2025, in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington. Evan Vucci/AP

While the president has made lowering weight-loss drug prices a cornerstone of his agenda, other factions of the Trump administration have their own views on GLP-1s — including the MAHA movement at the Department of Health and Human Services.

In the past, Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has decried GLP-1s, saying on Fox News in 2024, “If we just gave good food, three meals a day, to every man, woman and child in our country, we could solve the obesity and diabetes epidemic overnight.”

But Kennedy has noticeably shifted his stance on weight loss medications — and the pharmaceutical companies that manufacture them — over the past year. During the announcement of the two leading GLP-1 manufacturers’ agreements with the Trump administration in November, he called GLP-1s a “tool in the toolkit” and thanked the “extraordinary CEOs” of Novo Nordisk and Eli Lilly.

Groups other than pharmaceutical companies also lobbied around GLP-1s in late 2025.

WW International, formerly Weight Watchers, lobbied on “issues related to GLP-1 products, including coverage for GLP-1 products and related health services.” The corporation has expanded to offering weight loss medications online. Weight Watchers did not respond to a request for comment.

Other lobbying groups included advocacy groups such as the National Community Pharmacists Association, which represents independent pharmacists. NCPA spent $230,000 to lobby on issues including Medicare and Medicaid coverage for GLP-1 medications.

The group’s weight loss lobbying focused on the terms of the agreement between the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services and pharmaceutical companies to provide GLP-1s at reduced prices to Medicare Part D, said Ronna Hauser, senior vice president of policy and pharmacy affairs for NCPA.

Hauser said NPCA wanted to ensure adequate reimbursement for pharmacies dispensing GLP-1s, which she said were costly medications for independent pharmacies to purchase and store due to their cold-chain requirements. Hauser said CMS had been receptive to their efforts.

“CMS has been very willing to listen to us and meet with us,” Hauser said. “They’ve been doing a lot of their background research and homework into looking at current marketplace dynamics.”