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TheBlackAdder

(28,203 posts) Thu Mar 28, 2024, 02:45 PM Mar 28

CNBC: Novo Nordisk Ozempic Diabetes Drug, Costs $1K per month, Made for Less Than $5 per Month.

The blockbuster diabetes drug Ozempic could be manufactured for less than $5 a month, even as Novo Nordisk

charges close to $1,000 per month for the injection in the U.S. before insurance, a study released Wednesday suggests.

The study, from researchers at Yale University, King's College Hospital in London and the nonprofit Doctors Without Borders, raises more questions about the hefty price tag of the top-selling diabetes treatment and similar drugs for weight loss, which are all part of a new class of treatments called GLP-1s.

Demand for those medicines has soared over the last year, even as more insurers drop them from their plans due to cost, leaving some patients unable to afford the drugs.

https://www.cnbc.com/2024/03/27/novo-nordisk-ozempic-can-be-made-for-less-than-5-a-month-study.html

Depending on factors, it could cost as little as 89 cents per month!

5 replies

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CNBC: Novo Nordisk Ozempic Diabetes Drug, Costs $1K per month, Made for Less Than $5 per Month. (Original Post) TheBlackAdder Mar 28 OP

Don't medical insurance companies have to be in cahoots with big pharma for this crap to go on? brewens Mar 28 #1

The "losing weight" biz is a huge MOMFUDSKI Mar 28 #2

Unless there are valid reasons, shouldn't people true to lose weight JohnSJ Mar 28 #3

What was the R&D Jimbo S Mar 28 #4

I'm Not Convinced It Does ProfessorGAC Mar 28 #5

brewens

(13,588 posts)

1. Don't medical insurance companies have to be in cahoots with big pharma for this crap to go on?

Reply to TheBlackAdder (Original post)

Thu Mar 28, 2024, 02:49 PM

Mar 28

Why aren't they screaming bloody murder about this shit?

MOMFUDSKI

(5,546 posts)

2. The "losing weight" biz is a huge

Reply to TheBlackAdder (Original post)

Thu Mar 28, 2024, 02:49 PM

Mar 28

money maker.

JohnSJ

(92,201 posts)

3. Unless there are valid reasons, shouldn't people true to lose weight

Reply to TheBlackAdder (Original post)

Thu Mar 28, 2024, 02:59 PM

Mar 28

without relying on an injection or pill

Long term effects are still not only

Remember fenfen?

Jimbo S

(2,958 posts)

4. What was the R&D

Reply to TheBlackAdder (Original post)

Thu Mar 28, 2024, 04:35 PM

Mar 28

was that factored into the unit cost?

ProfessorGAC

(65,054 posts)

5. I'm Not Convinced It Does

Reply to Jimbo S (Reply #4)

Thu Mar 28, 2024, 04:46 PM

Mar 28

The article is quite cursory.
The range is so broad ( 89 cents to nearly 5 bucks?) that it's hard to imagine what's in those values.
89 cents is raw material cost? $2 covers that and all overhead, direct & indirect? $5 covers everything, including R&D? Is the $5 cost or theoretical sales price?
The only thing I know for sure us that raw material costs are not $5. Everything else is based on how the accounting was done.

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