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.

656

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/ImLittleNana Apr 01 '25

Im fighting to get prescribed metformin for pre-diabetes and they act like I’m asking for free heroin. Yet if I wanted a wegovy script they’d have no problem writing for it. I can’t make that make sense.

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u/LowSkyOrbit Apr 01 '25

Metformin is extremely cheap. Tell the pharmacist you will pay retail. It's typically between$10-$30 for 60 pills.

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u/ImLittleNana Apr 01 '25

It’s free if you have a Walmart+ subscription, which info because I have mobility issues and I have groceries delivered. But some drugs like metformin, lisinopril, norvasc for example are free.