Obesity Drug Price Wars Heat Up as CVS Picks Novo Over Lilly (1)

The obesity drug price wars are finally starting.

After being publicly lambasted for the high cost of their weight-loss shots, two of world’s biggest drugmakers — Eli Lilly & Co. and Novo Nordisk A/S — are racing to lock up deals with drug benefit managers that control which prescriptions many Americans get and popular telehealth companies that sell directly to consumers. Investors are worried about how low prices will go.

It’s not the first time the companies are facing off in the byzantine world of drug economics, where list prices often don’t reflect what the consumer pays or even how ...