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It’s very expensive at $10k/year/patient, but I wonder if the long term costs are still cheaper than treating heart attack or stroke. Obesity greatly increases
by prepend 2y ago
It’s very expensive at $10k/year/patient, but I wonder if the long term costs are still cheaper than treating heart attack or stroke. Obesity greatly increases the risk of cardiovascular events so I think this may end up saving Medicare money by shifting to pharmaceuticals from emergency care.
Of course, would be nice if they would negotiate a lower price as it’s really expensive.
But Medicare covers other chronic preventative meds, PReP coming to mind and that’s like $10k/year. But still way cheaper than HIV treatment that it prevents.
- toast0 2y agoDepends on what the long term side effects are. Fen-phen reduced obesity for some, but the heart damage it caused made it more expensive than no intervention. [1] [1] https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fenfluramine/phentermine https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fenfluramine/phentermine
- deleted 2y ago[deleted]
- prepend 2y agoIt’s been in use for 20 years or so, so I expect we’ve discovered most long term effects.
- toast0 2y agoWikipedia said semaglutide was approved by the FDA in 2017. With later approvals in the EU, Japan and Australia. Was it approved earlier elsewhere? Use for weight loss is relatively new as well. Approvals for that use are more recent, but off label use preceeds approval.
- ceejayoz 2y agoFirst of the GLP-1 receptor agonists was https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Exenatide https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Exenatide in 2005 (with clinical trials prior to that). Safety profile is reasonably well understood with two decades under our belts.
- addicted 2y agoWasn’t it approved for people with diabetes? I’m assuming the tests were done on people with diabetes then. Were there tests done on non diabetic people as well?
- fransje26 2y agoAh, but that is the beauty of it you see. You can then also sell a medication to counter the heart damage.. Beyond the sarcasm, it is concerning that most comments read here are raving about how much of a positive effect this cure could have. From a quick scroll, I haven't seen any addressing the fact that a new pill is not helping solve the cause of the problem. We, as a society, have absolutely no reason to be obese. Yet, we choose to ignore the root of the problem, and cheer on the palliative chemical solutions. These solutions inevitably come we serious health side effects that we accept without blinking, as the most natural thing. And the industry also cheers as they can now also sell a second cure to address the side effects of the fist cure. It shouldn't be forgotten that the pharmaceutical industry is, fist of all, a business. https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2018/04/curing-disease-not-a-sustainable-business-model-goldman-sachs-analysts-say/ https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2018/04/curing-disease-n...
- sbelskie 2y agoHow is a drug that reduces appetite and eating not solving the root cause of obesity?
- _aavaa_ 2y agoBecause the root cause isn't a sudden increase in appetite. What caused people's appetite to increase?
- 015UUZn8aEvW 2y ago>Because the root cause isn't a sudden increase in appetite. It seems plausible that the introduction of evolutionarily novel ultraprocessed foods, designed by scientists in labs to be as tasty as possible, could increase a lot of people's appetites.
- _aavaa_ 2y agoI agree that they might create a positive feedback loop, see for example the ever-present sugar cravings that take a few days-weeks of no dessert or sugar to subside. The processed foods however is what we’d want to get rid of. Otherwise all we do is slow down the loop, and add in more side effects.
- rthnbgrredf 2y agoThe cost of 10k per year is very likely to drop over time, especially if there's a huge roll out for millions of people. I think statistics calculations will show a net positive effect in terms of long term health care savings, unless Wegovy has serious side-effects that counter the benefits.
- ceejayoz 2y agoMedicare is also now allowed to negotiate prices. I fully expect this one to be on the list ASAP.
- refurb 2y agoMedicare (the government part) wouldn't pay directly for Wegovy since it's an out-patient drug. That would be Medicare Part D, which is managed by private insurers who can negotiate.
- ceejayoz 2y agoNah. Drugs covered by Part D are precisely what they got the right to step in for. https://www.cms.gov/files/document/fact-sheet-medicare-selected-drug-negotiation-list-ipay-2026.pdf https://www.cms.gov/files/document/fact-sheet-medicare-selec... > For the first time, the law provides Medicare the ability to directly negotiate the prices of certain high expenditure, single source drugs without generic or biosimilar competition. Below is the list of 10 drugs covered under Medicare Part D selected for negotiation for initial price applicability year 2026, based on total gross covered prescription drug costs under Medicare Part D and other criteria as required by the law. https://www.medicare.gov/about-us/prescription-drug-law https://www.medicare.gov/about-us/prescription-drug-law > For the first time, Medicare will be able to negotiate directly with manufacturers for the price of certain high-spending brand-name Medicare Part B and Part D drugs that don’t have competition.
- maxerickson 2y agoThat the private operators of part D were always free to negotiate prices is most of the point.
- throwup238 2y agoFor comparison, (as far as I know) the drug with the most revenue per year is Humira which costs roughly the same per year and has several million customers globally.
- mchanson 2y agoBlue cross has $450 / mo negotiated rate. Medicare can do better than that and government has started doing negotiations for drugs.
- dogma1138 2y agoIt’s around £250 a month in the UK privately, when it falls under the NHS fully it will likely be even cheaper. There is absolutely no reason for it to cost $10K per year in the US. I’m more worried about the long term effects of it, we had plenty of “miracle drugs” in the past that resulted in significant damage long term to either those who took them or to their children.
- ceejayoz 2y agoGLP-1 receptor agonists have been pretty widely used for diabetes since 2005. If there's a major unseen gotcha lurking, it hasn't showed up in the first two decades. (Plus however long prior to that the clinical trials were going on for.)
- jrmg 2y agoFWIW, £250/month (GBP) is the equivalent of $3750/year (USD).
- mey 2y agoWith the right compounding pharmacy you can get it for less than ~$200/mo USD since Ozempic and Wegovy are the same drug, Semaglutide, just at a different dose. Is it "off label" use of Ozempic? Yes. Are the FDA and medical patents in the US broken? Yes.
- jnsaff2 2y agoIt's 88 EUR/month in my EU-Baltics country. I'd say it can be made much cheaper here and therefore in the US as well.
- pxmpxm 2y agoI think you're missing the fact that USA, as a very rich country, tends to subsidize drugs for everyone. Your cost is artificially lower as ours is artificially higher. The only way to make it cheaper in the US is to make your pay more.
- StefanWestfal 2y agoWould you mind to explain? My gut feeling tells me you are right but I can not follow 100%.
- jnsaff2 2y ago> The only way to make it cheaper in the US is to make your pay more. I think this is very unimaginative to claim that the developer/manufacturer costs are fixed in stone and THE ONLY WAY is for customers to zero-sum it amongst themselves. Most of the cost was in development/trials, the marginal cost of manufacture is probably in the single digits per month. With such an enormous market demand the development costs can be recouped faster and there is a possibility to lower the prices in the states as well. Also 10x difference points to more systematic differences in the healthcare systems not just altruism of the US citizens.
- tacocataco 2y agoCorporations are well known for selling things at a loss.
- viraptor 2y agoArtificially lower, as in getting lower profit, not as in subsidised. If you're trying to say corps sell ozempic at a loss, that's a big (citation needed).
- sn9 2y agoThere are several anti-obesity drugs in the pipeline that work through similar mechanisms that should be entering the market which should lower the price through competition. Heart disease, diabetes, and fatty liver disease are some of the most common killers and the reduction in excess body fat will causally and significantly lower the risks for all of them.