This is tragic when you think about all the people that died of obesity in the mean time. By now, the patent would have expired. Many more people would have survived Covid.
Accurate, I periodically think about the standard here
Over 1 million Americans are in the reported death tally, this is attributed to a failure of a lot of things under an administration's watch
But if it was just 100,000 would the criticism or consternation be any different? if it was just 10,000 and matched the seasonal flu would it be any different? if it was just 3,000 matching a tragedy of the magnitude of 9/11 would it be any different?
if it is to be different, what would the threshold be
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competition (wegovy vs zepbound), but surprisingly they all are charging $1K/month with a "discount card" which can be withdrawn at any time, and even that still makes is $6K/year.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.
See my other reply to this post for sources.
> a "discount card" which can be withdrawn at any time
if we're talking hypotheticals...
> 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We aren't. We've seen it with multiple very expensive US drugs that had generous "discount cards" that were withdrawn when they got popular.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.
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.
Insurance generally only covers Ozempic if someone has diabetes. Some insurance plans cover Wegovy, the same drug with a different dosing labeled for weight loss, but many don’t.
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.
See, for example:
https://a4pc.org/2024-04/mass-confusion/
https://subsema.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/White-Paper-S...
https://mynextgenrx.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/03/Compounde...
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.
https://www.help.senate.gov/chair/newsroom/press/news-sander...