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.<p>Of course, would be nice if they would negotiate a lower price as it’s really expensive.<p>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.
I’m all for it. Initial results seem very promising, especially for those struggling to get to their target weights. I was initially skeptical of it especially given the massive marketing push for off label usage (reminded me of fentanyl/oxy or certain amphetamines for weight loss).<p>Personally, just adjusting lifestyle (reducing intake of sugary and artificially sweetened foods; exercise; and intermittent fasting) over a sustained period of time (3-4 months) helped me drop 40 lbs. OTC supplements like vitamin d, and omega fish oil added to regimen (as recommended by doctor).
Note that seniors are actually some of the biggest cohorts using the new GLP1 Receptor Agonists:<p><a href="https://glp1.guide/content/senior-citizens-and-glp1-receptor-agonists/" rel="nofollow">https://glp1.guide/content/senior-citizens-and-glp1-receptor...</a><p>Also as some other people have noted, those costs seem high now, but they're certain to go down over time (due to competition and other companies entering the market along with other countries), and almost certainly worth the cost -- type 2 diabetes can be very expensive, along with all the other effects from complications of obesity.<p>For example, Wegovy has actually been FDA approved for reducing heart disease risk:<p><a href="https://glp1.guide/content/news-fda-approves-wegovy-for-reducing-heart-risk" rel="nofollow">https://glp1.guide/content/news-fda-approves-wegovy-for-redu...</a>
Why is it we can spend 10k/year on our car, but not 10k/year on ourself. We have to ask our government/insurance to pay. Makes no sense.
It's about £2,500 ($3,100) per year in the UK if you just buy it online, not subsidised. I don't know how the US massive price hike is justified when the whole western world is buying it from the same supplier (Novo Nordisk in Denmark).
I bet this will end up saving the government a lot more than it costs. On the other hand, the side effects and long term effects of these new drugs are not well known. I wouldn’t be surprised if some of the common GI side effects become something more serious.
Without discounting the cases that are genetic or as a result of some other illness, for whom such a pill is a godsend, most obesity is due to lifestyle and especially all the processed foods (not to mention soda!) that Americans eat and drink.<p>I'd rather my taxes go to preventing obesity in the first place then paying for a pill that helps relieve its symptoms (but does not fix the underlying cause), is expensive, and has side effects. Make it harder to life an unhealthy lifestyle, just as we've made it a lot harder to smoke over the past 40 years. Start by taxing sodas and processed foods for one and use the money to subsidize healthier foods and prevention of "food deserts" in lower income areas (given that obesity is highly correlated with low income which is highly correlated with unhealthy diet -- it's hard to stay healthy when all you have nearby are corner stores stuffed with Frito Lay and Coke.<p>To me it's another example of how we really have our priorities backwards.
A friend of mine is earning millions of dollars / month connecting people to this drug. The trick is working out the insurance company rules. With Medicare they're going to be rich as fuck. Just a giant pump of taxpayer dollars into this. It's going to be fantastic.
That’s a solid 12k+/year for eligible patient. Have no issue so long as it’s capped to an order of months to avoid it being a forever med. otherwise we’ll see all our insurance premiums and Medicare taxes rise dramatically.