March 15, 2025 — A new analysis in JAMA Health Forum yesterday shines a harsh light on pricing for new obesity medicines. In a rigorous econometric analysis, researchers found that new and highly effective medicines for obesity – Wegovy (semaglutide) and Zepbound (tirzepatide) – are both overpriced. They also found that the price and value of Wegovy was out […]
April 16, 2024 — Right now GLP-1 medicines for obesity carry high list prices that engender great debates about how many billions (hyperbolists will say trillions) of dollars treating obesity will cost healthcare systems. For the uninitiated, it’s quite natural to think of metabolic procedures and obesity medicine in terms of either/or questions. No matter that this is a […]
August 21, 2023 — How much might the application of new insights from the SELECT study of treating obesity do for preventing heart attacks, strokes, and deaths. A first pass at answering this question appeared in Cardiovascular Drugs and Therapy last week. Nathan Wong, Hridhay Karthikeyan, and Wenjun Fan estimated the potential for semaglutide treatment to lower cardiovascular disease […]
June 29, 2023 — After four exhilarating days of new possibilities for overcoming diabetes and obesity at ADA2023, we had to come back down to earth. The National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence in the UK stepped up to this task right away. On Tuesday, NICE said nope to recommending tirzepatide use for type 2 diabetes in the […]
May 28, 2023 — “Money makes the world go around.” Joel Grey and Liza Minnelli explained this in Cabaret. But sorting it out in healthcare – and specifically in obesity care right now – is quite a challenge. A lot of money is in play and so the tension between greed, health, and obesity care is painfully obvious. The […]
August 2, 2022 — At what cost can we decide that obesity care is worth the money? Until now, the answer has largely been to refuse considering this question. But as the cost of untreated obesity adds up, it’s becoming impossible to dodge the question anymore and an increasing number of serious analyses are underway. The Institute for Clinical […]
July 14, 2022 — We’ve all got our reading assignments. The Institute for Clinical and Economic Review (ICER) has released its draft report on effectiveness and value for the current options in obesity medicine. There’s a lot to process in there. But the bottom line is clear enough. Phentermine/topiramate (Qsymia) offers the best value, says the report. The most […]
December 8, 2020 — What we have here is a bit of a love-hate story. In the midst of the COVID pandemic, Britain’s NHS has received an outpouring of love. But for folks living with obesity in the UK, it’s a little harder to find some of that love. Our own research suggests that some of the strongest weight […]
December 3, 2020 — We didn’t expect this: COVID-19 is a boon to the health insurance industry. Despite a health crisis killing someone every minute in the U.S., costs for medical care are down. That’s because of people avoiding or delaying healthcare – possibly putting their health at risk. But for health insurers, that means a big increase in […]
September 21, 2019 — Holy grail? Game-changer? These superlatives were flying around as FDA approved Rybelsus – oral semaglutide – yesterday for type 2 diabetes. We don’t know about all that puffery, but it’s clear enough that this approval is a big deal. Oral semaglutide will be the first ever GLP-1 agonist in a pill. Up until now, taking […]
