After years of easily available, cheap copies of Eli Lilly's and Novo Nordisk's highly effective weight-loss drugs, some U.S. patients say they are unwilling to pay more and are pursuing alternatives to get around the regulatory deadline for compounding pharmacies to stop making them.

Novo Nordisk will sell a less expensive one-month supply of Wegovy for patients who previously took compounded versions of the medication.

Eli Lilly’s Zepbound proved more effective than Novo Nordisk’s Wegovy in a new head-to-head trial, though both medications resulted in substantial weight loss. The trial, call