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The patent thing in particular. The drug companies are currently charging $1000 per MONTH which is an unimaginable amount of money. Therefore, a lot of people w
by Someone1234 2y ago
The patent thing in particular. The drug companies are currently charging $1000 per MONTH which is an unimaginable amount of money. Therefore, a lot of people who would otherwise benefit (e.g. obese, prediabetes) simply won't have the option.
Unclear to me who has $12,000 extra they can spend on a non-immediate life-saving medication like these. There is technically market competition (wegovy vs zepbound), but surprisingly they all are charging $1K/month with a "discount card" which can be withdrawn at any time, and even that still makes is $6K/year.
Currently, many people are benefiting via legal compounding from safe US licensed pharmacies due to the shortages/FDA shortage list, but that route is very soon going to be closed. Then back to $1K/month Vs. $1K/month.
- maxdemarzi 2y agoIt’s $275 a month plus $99 every 6 months at SlimDownRX. The compounded pharmacies are helping.
- fnord77 2y ago$39/month from the top chinese vendors
- maxdemarzi 2y agoTell me more…
- deleted 2y ago[deleted]
- Someone1234 2y agoIt won't be for long. That can only exist because of the FDA Shortage List, and with the official manufacturers releasing single dose vials, it is only a matter of "when" not "if" it won't be classed as shortage, and you're back to paying $1K.
- HeatrayEnjoyer 2y agoWhy would classifying it a shortage make it expensive?
- Someone1234 2y agoClassifying it as a shortage makes it cheap. It will get expensive when it is off the shortage list.
- NotYourLawyer 2y agoThat makes no sense.
- Someone1234 2y agoThe FDA shortage list allows compound pharmacies to produce it without paying for patents/licensing.
- TylerE 2y agoBeing on the shortage list is what allows compounders to sell it. Once that is no longer true, that option goes away.
- deleted 2y ago[deleted]
- technofiend 2y agoCompounded is amazingly cheap particularly when you start because a single bottle of compounded Wegovy is many doses at the lowest recommended dosage levels. I think the first bottle cost me $200 and lasted two months, possibly longer. Wegovy would be $1300/mo at Costco without insurance. Absurd.
- NotYourLawyer 2y agoWhat actually is the compounded stuff though? Where does it come from? What’s in it?
- trogdor 2y agoTheir source for semaglutide is crushed Rybelsus pills. See my other reply to this post for sources.
- NavinF 2y agoFYI 92% of Americans have health insurance. People are not paying $1k/month. > a "discount card" which can be withdrawn at any time if we're talking hypotheticals...
- Someone1234 2y agoFYI most health insurance won't cover the $1K/month cost of either weight loss medication currently (only for diabetes version with appropriate diagnosis). So people are, absolutely, paying out of pocket. I personally know two people that are and there have been multiple articles about it. > if we're talking hypotheticals... We aren't. We've seen it with multiple very expensive US drugs that had generous "discount cards" that were withdrawn when they got popular. It is like a drug-dealer model, get them hooked, then jack up the price. The drug companies know this is a golden goose, and they only have 13 remaining years to squeeze it.
- ribosometronome 2y agoMost health insurance will not cover these medications for the purpose of weight loss. Even for diabetics, many require you to go through other medications like metformin first, to show that can't help with your A1C (which it very well may, but without as much help losing weight). There are discount coupons that come and go and bring it down to like $500/mo if you have insurance that doesn't cover, but they come and go. A lot of people are definitely paying a $1k/mo for their skinny-as-a-service subscription.
- Spooky23 2y agoMost insurance plans are excluding the drugs for weight loss purposes. With a type-2 diagnosis, you can get Ozempoc, Zephound or Rybelsus covered. Wegovy, etc and off-label Ozempic is excluded by most formularies. Some big companies and government plans are covering it however.
- HeatrayEnjoyer 2y agoInsurance only covers with a diabetes prescription. My sister in law is a pharmacist and 50% of her shop's fills are cash price because insurance will not help.
- Spooky23 2y agoA lot of the compounded stuff is nonsense. They charge you a few hundred dollars for vitamin B supplements with some shadily-sourced GLP drug that fell off the truck or was manufactured in some mysterious factory in Ukraine or wherever. Even in the drugs are real, most of the online compounders are out of Florida or other locals with a long history of shady behavior and poor regulation.
- ik8s 2y agoExactly! I've reasearched some semaglutide compounding pharmacies and it terrifies me that their semaglutide source is top secret; never disclosed. Where's it coming from and what are people really injecting?
- trogdor 2y agoTheir semaglutide source is crushed Rybelsus pills. See, for example: https://a4pc.org/2024-04/mass-confusion/ https://a4pc.org/2024-04/mass-confusion/ https://subsema.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/White-Paper-Semaglutide-Crushing-of-RYBELSUS®-Tablets.pdf https://subsema.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/White-Paper-S... https://mynextgenrx.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/03/Compounded-Semaglutide-Sublingual-Script-Sheet.pdf https://mynextgenrx.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/03/Compounde...
- Spooky23 2y agoI doubt that’s supporting the industry. Rybelsus is constrained from a supply pov and expensive.
- trogdor 2y agoOn the contrary. It’s quite cheap, since compounding pharmacies are selling semaglutide for injection. Last week I purchased 90 tablets of 14mg Rybelsus for just over $700. My cost per milligram of semaglutide was just over 50 cents. Compounding pharmacies are preparing weekly injections containing at most a few milligrams of semaglutide, and they are selling a one-month supply for ~$250. Their cost for active ingredient is well-under $10.
- andy_ppp 2y agoIn the UK Wegovy is £200 per month privately, Why is it so expensive in the US?
- petercooper 2y agoI pay £169/mo for Mounjaro, but yeah, it seems a common thing for baseline prices for medication to be very high in the US, then often reduced significantly by insurance. I assume mostly because they can get away with it whereas next to no-one in the UK is going to pay £1000/mo for it.
- 404mm 2y agoBecause we have shitty laws created by government that “represents the people” but runs on money from corporate donations. In other words, they charge $1k because they can.
- phonon 2y agoZepbound is $399-$650 per month, ordered direct, if insurance does not cover it. Not great, but at least a start..... https://www.help.senate.gov/chair/newsroom/press/news-sanders-statement-on-eli-lillys-decision-to-lower-the-starter-price-of-blockbuster-weight-loss-drug-zepbound https://www.help.senate.gov/chair/newsroom/press/news-sander...