(Bloomberg) -- Major health insurers will now cover Novo Nordisk A/S’s blockbuster weight-loss drug Wegovy for certain Medicare beneficiaries with heart-related conditions.

CVS Health Corp.’s Aetna insurance unit, Elevance Health Inc., and nonprofit insurer Kaiser Permanente said in statements that they would cover Wegovy for reducing the risk of heart attacks and strokes. 

Private health-care plans had previously resisted reimbursing GLP-1 drugs like Wegovy and Eli Lilly & Co.’s Zepbound because of their costs that can run upwards of $1,000 a month. The decision by major health plans to cover the drugs follows the publication of research that shows the drugs’ heart benefits, and could prompt other insurers to follow suit.

The news was first reported by the Wall Street Journal. 

The decision to cover the drugs comes a week after the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services instructed Medicare prescription drug benefit plans that anti-obesity medications that have received approval for additional uses can be covered when prescribed to lower risks of heart disease and stroke. A study last year found that obese or overweight people with a history of heart problems taking Wegovy were 20% less likely to suffer a cardiovascular event than those who took a placebo.

Until earlier this month, Wegovy was only approved in the US for diabetes, but the Food and Drug Administration approved an expansion of its label to include reducing the risk of heart attacks and strokes.

A spokesperson for Novo said the company is encouraged to see the recent US guidance. “But there’s more work to be done because Part D coverage is still not available for obesity medicines when used for chronic weight management,” the spokesperson said in an emailed statement. 

The success and hype around Wegovy and Ozempic, its sister drug for diabetes, have turned Novo into Europe’s biggest publicly traded company, but they’ve also come under fire for their hefty price tag. 

On Wednesday, US Senator Bernie Sanders called on Novo to lower the list price of Ozempic following the publication of a new study showing that it can be made for less than $5 a month.

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