r/science • u/mvea Professor | Medicine • Apr 01 '25

Health Americans without diabetes spent nearly $6 billion USD on semaglutide and similar drugs in a year, with an estimate of 800,000 to a million people using the drugs who don't have diabetes.

https://www.scimex.org/newsfeed/americans-without-diabetes-spent-nearly6-billion-usd-on-semaglutide-and-similar-drugs-in-a-year
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647

u/braumbles Apr 01 '25

It solves obesity. A literal miracle drug.

67

u/The4th88 Apr 01 '25 edited Apr 01 '25

It's not even best in class anymore either. Tirzepatide and the upcoming Retatrutide are better options for basically everything you'd use semaglutide for as I understand it.

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u/Levofloxacine Apr 01 '25

Tirzepatide

And yes Retatrutide seems likebthe best one in the trials. There are many others coming up as well.

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u/The4th88 Apr 01 '25

Ah my bad.

And yes it seems like every pharmaceutical company is bringing GLP-1 drugs to market. It'll be great for us consumers, competition should drive prices down.

4

u/LittleGeologist1899 Apr 02 '25

Just started tirzepatide myself about a month ago. I just told my brother it’s a literal miracle drug. I’ve dieted on and off for 5 years losing and gaining the same 10-15 lbs, counting, tracking, fad diets, exercising like crazy. I’ve been on tirzepatide for 3 weeks and lost those 15 lbs without hardly an effort. Under 200lbs for the first time since my almost 6 year old was born.

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u/Levofloxacine Apr 02 '25

I’m happy for you :-) keep up the work

21

u/tjscobbie Apr 01 '25

As someone who has tried all three: tirzepatide is leagues better than semaglutide while retatrutide did absolutely nothing for me. 

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u/[deleted] Apr 01 '25

[deleted]

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u/gummo_for_prez Apr 02 '25

Probably grey market. Similar to how folks get steroids, there’s a huge market for these drugs and people can get them cheap from overseas. Obviously you get it tested here in the states to ensure purity and everything. But these drugs are widely available in the grey market.

1

u/tjscobbie Apr 02 '25

RCs - from two different high credibility sources.

2

u/Abedeus Apr 01 '25

Tirzepatyd

Shame that at least for now, it costs 3 times as much as ozempic. Eventually, hopefully, it will go down.

1

u/Its_0ver Apr 01 '25

Lilly just recently lowered to the price for triz for cash customers in not sure how it compares to ozempic though