> <i>A study by researchers at Yale estimated that drugs like Wegovy can be profitably manufactured for less than $5 per month.</i><p>Serious question: Why not just bootleg the stuff?<p>It's a very small protein, easy to make, and "research chemical" companies that sell structurally similar bodybuilding drugs and nootropics are a dime a dozen. Search online for "BPC-157" (a protein drug of only slightly inferior complexity) and you'll find a million places that sell it at $25 for a month's supply. Those vendors are legitimate far more often than not.<p>If Novo Nordisk won't sell to humans at a humane price -- instead preferring to gouge insurance companies and the gatekeeping medical bureaucracy -- I'd argue that there's a moral imperative to bootleg the drug and distribute it to those who would benefit from it at a fair price.<p>And, unlike many of the bodybuilding drugs (which are a big business,) these new weight-loss drugs aren't scheduled, so you won't get in much trouble even in the unlikely event you are caught.
If you feel guilty encountering the pleasures of vice, then I am less likely to be expected to produce sons&daughters destined to become diabetes clinicians instead of astronauts.<p>Wrath brings Heart Disease.<p>Sloth causes osteoporosis.<p>Polygamy risks the manifestation of a malformed body&mind when your random scattered offspring begin dating each other years after your death (centuries before Birth Control "cured" pregnancy).<p>Sullen faces, hunched posture, double chins, pot bellies - evidence of a derailed populace convinced to open the floodgates of desire. Your curse is a Cattle Car Healthcare System.<p>Eat less, do more. Pain is Weakness Leaving the Body.<p>Lest the Fast Track sequesters even more useful talent.<p>The clergy knew this, but you would rather overrule judgement with surgeries and pills (clean-up crew salary&options).<p>Morality is about someone else's tomorrow, because you will not be abandoned (despite your folly). Citizen Upkeep described in the form of iambic pentameter and parable.
The Government could manufacture the drug itself under 28 USC 1498.[1]
"Reasonable and entire compensation" to the patent holder is required, but previous cases indicate that does not authorize a huge markup.<p>The last time using 28 USC 1498 was proposed in the pharma sector, it involved ciprofloxin. The pharma industry panicked. Suddenly, ciprofloxin became much cheaper.<p>[1] <a href="https://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/28/1498" rel="nofollow">https://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/28/1498</a>
This is silly because it doesn't take into consideration all the health issues that are alleviated when people stop overeating and get down to a normal weight
> If Novo Nordisk set its US prices for Wegovy to match the Danish price, spending to treat half of US adults with obesity would drop from $411 billion to $94.5 billion, a roughly $316.5 billion savings.<p>The solution to the drug price crisis is for the US to stop subsidizing the rest of the developed world.<p>The US should set a rule saying that it will not pay more than the price the drug company charges to any developed country.
My hot take on these GLP-1 drugs is that they won't work long term for most people. If the plan is to give the drug to as many obese people as possible and take a victory lap, thats going to fail.<p>I don't think its resonable for most people to continue taking GLP-1 antagonists all their lives. Its been widely shown that most people rapdily gain back ~2/3 of their weight after stopping semaglutide. This means that the people who lost weight did not build sustainable weight management habits during their time on these drugs.<p>IMHO a better solution would be to design individualized weight loss programs which would help people build sustainable healthy eating habits, and change their relationship to food while using GLP-1 as a tool to help the process and motivate people. I understand that is much easier said than done, especially at such a large scale.<p>Maybe the answer lies in a combination of various actions, some ideas include,<p>- Medicare and Medicaid negotiating to reduce the cost<p>- Possibly offering lower/higher dosages based on needs to better manage cost<p>- Offering incentives/discounts when GLP-1 is used in-combination with health coaching.<p>- Offering GLP-1 drugs with lifetime maximums similar to Orthodontic procedures such as braces or clear aligners, with some exceptions based on medical needs.<p>- Reduce food deserts, especially in rural and low income areas.<p>- Penalize companies which sell seriously addictive / unhealthy foods. We did that with Cigarettes! Unhealthy diets filled with addictive sugary processed foods cause similar harm to families, society, and future generations.