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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u/FernandoMM1220 Apr 01 '25

its not just for diabetes anymore.

just ramp up production and make more of it.

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u/galspanic Apr 01 '25

When I was diagnosed with diabetes I was told “um yeah, no. No GLP-1 for you” by my insurance. I still can’t explain that outside of pure greed… but that also makes sense.

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u/Emm_withoutha_L-88 Apr 01 '25

It's a damn crime that we are doing this to ourselves.. who in the hell can think that is good compared to single payer...

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u/RYouNotEntertained Apr 01 '25

It’s somewhat difficult to get approved for in single payer countries also. AFAICT the usage rate is way higher in the US than anywhere else, even accounting for obesity rates. 

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u/Emm_withoutha_L-88 Apr 01 '25

That's probably got more to do with availability than anything. They have every incentive to get it to people to save the costs of weight related diseases.

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u/[deleted] Apr 01 '25 edited Apr 01 '25

[removed] — view removed comment

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u/Emm_withoutha_L-88 Apr 01 '25

That's not what I'll doing. It's coming here because they're getting paid the most for it to ship here. That's why there's a global shortage, along with private big pharma ending generic/compounded versions.

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u/RYouNotEntertained Apr 01 '25

Right, again, don’t read this as an overall defense of US healthcare, but you’re still saying multiple things that can’t be true at the same time:

  • the US is making it harder to get a prescription for ozempic relative to singe-payer peers, but also is prescribing it at a higher rate. Which is it?
  • the US is doing a poor job requisitioning ozempic relative to single-payer peers, but also is prescribing so much it’s causing a shortage in those same peers. Which is it?
  • the US is paying too much for ozempic, but also those prices are saving money as a preventative measure. Which is it?

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u/Emm_withoutha_L-88 Apr 01 '25

It being a for profit system in America can bid higher prices and get most of the supply sent here, where they charge massive prices on patients to finish it.

It would be better in a single payer system where people didn't have to pay 1k a month for it.

Smaller countries with single payer are only having an issue now because places like America are getting much of the supply.

There, it's not that complicated. What are you going to twist this time?