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How Much Should Weight Loss Drugs Like Wegovy and Zepbound Cost?

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How Much Should Weight Loss Drugs Like Wegovy and Zepbound Cost?

It’s easy to make a medical case for blockbuster weight loss drugs like Wegovy and Zepbound, which have been shown to prevent heart attacks and strokes and save lives.

But for the employers and government programs being asked to pay for the medications, the financial case for them is less clear. Are the drugs’ benefits worth their enormous cost?

The answer right now is no, according to a new study published on Friday in the journal JAMA Health Forum, by researchers at the University of Chicago.

To be considered cost effective by a common measure used by health economists, the price of Novo Nordisk’s Wegovy would need to be cut by over 80 percent, to $127 per month, the researchers concluded. And Eli Lilly’s Zepbound would be cost effective only if its price fell by nearly a third, to $361 per month. (Zepbound warranted a higher price, the researchers said, because it produced greater benefits in clinical trials.)

“There’s no doubt that the drugs are demonstrating tremendous health benefits,” said David Kim, a health economist at the University of Chicago and the senior author of the study, which was funded by government grants. “The problem is the price is too high.”

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There’s widespread hope that the drugs will effectively pay for themselves in the long run, by making patients healthier and preventing expensive medical bills. It’s not clear yet whether that will turn out to be true.

Eli Lilly rejected the new study’s findings, arguing that it ignored the results of several clinical trials in which the company’s drug had shown benefit. It instead used “a limited data set to draw sweeping conclusions,” said Courtney Kasinger, a spokeswoman for the company. And Liz Skrbkova, a spokeswoman for Novo Nordisk, said there are “no universally accepted thresholds for what determines a drug to be cost-effective.”

Employers and government programs pay different prices for the drugs, and those numbers are almost always kept a secret. The University of Chicago researchers estimated the price for Wegovy to be $700 per month, on average, compared with $520 for Zepbound.

Huge demand for the drugs has caused employers’ drug costs to balloon, prompting some companies to impose restrictions on who can get them, or stop covering the medications altogether. Con Edison, the energy utility that serves New York City and Westchester County, recently said it needed to raise rates to offset increased expenses that included a surge in spending on weight loss drugs.

Medicare covers the drugs for patients with diabetes, and a much smaller subset of people who contend with both obesity and another health condition, like a heart problem, or sleep apnea. Congress has resisted expanding coverage for millions more older people who are overweight or obese, because it would be so expensive.

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Patients who pay for the drugs using their own money instead of going through insurance face varying prices; some pay more than $1,300 per month. But for a low dose of Zepbound, patients can pay $350 out of pocket, a price the University of Chicago researchers considered cost-effective.

To come up with their estimates, researchers ran computer simulations of what might happen if people who were overweight or obese took one of the weight loss drugs for the remainder of their lives. Based on the results from clinical trials, the model projected benefits that might accrue over the long run. Many overweight patients would never become obese, for example. Other patients would avert diabetes or heart disease. They would stay productive, and out of the hospital.

These benefits added up to many years of good health — so-called quality-adjusted life years. Many health economists think it’s reasonable for society to pay $100,000 for each such healthy year. But in the model, the years of good health provided by Wegovy and Zepbound cost much more.

Drug companies often push back fiercely against such cost-effectiveness analyses, saying they fail to capture the true value medications can bring to patients and societies. Still, they sometimes fund such studies. An analysis financed by Novo Nordisk, similar to that by the University of Chicago researchers, found the company’s weight loss drug to be cost-effective.

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Hundreds quarantined due to measles outbreak in southern state, officials say

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Hundreds quarantined due to measles outbreak in southern state, officials say

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VIRAL OUTBREAK — Measles surge leads to hundreds quarantined in U.S. county, officials say

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The South Carolina Department of Public Health confirmed that 254 people are currently in quarantine in the upstate region. (iStock)

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Man’s extreme energy drink habit leads to concerning medical discovery, doctors say

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Man’s extreme energy drink habit leads to concerning medical discovery, doctors say

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Eight energy drinks per day may lead to serious health consequences, recent research suggests.

A relatively healthy man in his 50s suffered a stroke from the overconsumption of unnamed energy beverages, according to a scientific paper published in the journal BMJ Case Reports by doctors at Nottingham University Hospitals in the U.K.

The unnamed man was described as “normally fit and well,” but was experiencing left-side weakness, numbness and ataxia, also known as poor coordination or unsteady walking. 

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When the man sought medical attention, it was confirmed via MRI that he had suffered an ischemic thalamic stroke, the report stated.

The patient’s blood pressure was high upon admission to the hospital, was lowered during treatment and then rose again after discharge, even though he was taking five medications.

The 50-year-old man (not pictured) admitted to drinking eight energy drinks per day. (iStock)

The man revealed that he consumed eight cans of energy drink per day, each containing 160 mg of caffeine. His caffeine consumption had not been recorded upon admission to the hospital.

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Once the man stopped drinking caffeine, his blood pressure normalized, and he was taken off antihypertensive medications.

High caffeine content can raise blood pressure “substantially,” a doctor confirmed. (iStock)

Based on this case, the authors raised the potential risks associated with energy drinks, especially regarding stroke and cardiovascular disease.

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They also highlighted the importance of “targeted questioning in clinical practice and greater public awareness.”

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The authors say this case draws attention to the potential dangers of over-consuming energy drinks. (iStock)

Fox News senior medical analyst Dr. Marc Siegel reacted to the case study in an interview with Fox News Digital.

“This case report illustrates the high risk associated with a large volume of energy drink consumption, especially because of the high caffeine content, which can raise your blood pressure substantially,” said Siegel, who was not involved in the study.

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“In this case, the large amount of caffeine appears to have led directly to very high blood pressure and a thalamic stroke, which is likely a result of that soaring blood pressure.”

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Fox News Digital reached out to the case study authors and various energy drink brands for comment.

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5 Surprising Ozempic Side Effects Doctors Are Finally Revealing (Like Back Pain and Hair Loss)

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5 Surprising Ozempic Side Effects Doctors Are Finally Revealing (Like Back Pain and Hair Loss)


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Surprising Ozempic Side Effects Doctors Want Women To Know | Woman’s World




















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