November 6, 2022 — A pair of thoughts kept floating through the halls of ObesityWeek 2022 and they set up something that seems like an economic doom loop for the future of obesity care. The new drugs for obesity are amazing. But they’re too damn expensive. Professor John Cawley gave an excellent presentation on the economics of obesity that […]
September 3, 2022 — ICER – the Institute for Clinical and Economic Review – has released its final report on the effectiveness and value of obesity meds and set a public hearing for September 16. Let’s say it right up front. This private nonprofit is trying to do something that is almost impossibly hard. Making objective sense from the […]
August 12, 2022 — An interesting conversation popped up in a recent session to prepare for the upcoming White House Conference on Hunger Nutrition and Health. It was about obesity drug prices, utilization, and ultimately, access to care. Dariush Mozaffarian was a key speaker at this session organized by the Bipartisan Policy Center. He offered his opinion that you […]
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 […]
June 1, 2022 — When “health plans” tell someone seeking treatment for obesity it’s a vanity thing, we are not fooled. They simply don’t want to pay the bill. Health plan? Not really. It’s a lot like car insurance. It pays for a wreck. Not so much for preventing one. Writing in the New York Times today, Gina Kolata […]
May 24, 2022 — Drug pricing has been getting a lot of attention for some time now, so it’s no surprise that the prices of obesity medicines would get attention, too. New medicines are coming, competition will be increasing, and one factor in that competition will be prices. The only way to get good value is to consider both […]
May 21, 2022 — Competition can be a great thing. In the past few weeks we’ve been hearing a lot about tirzepatide. The FDA just approved it for treating type 2 diabetes, hailing it as an important advance. Tirzepatide for obesity is a couple of years away, but the initial results of pivotal studies have been extremely impressive. So […]
May 14, 2022 — Yesterday, FDA approved tirzepatide for type 2 diabetes, calling it “an important advance.” The brand name will be Mounjaro. This is the same drug for which its maker, Eli Lilly and Company, announced remarkable results in a phase 3 obesity study barely two weeks ago. It is the first of its kind – a dual […]
May 12, 2022 — Somehow this doesn’t seem right. The list price for for a month’s supply of semaglutide when it’s for diabetes is $892. No matter whether you need a dose of 1 mg, or the new high dose of 2 mg, the price is the same. It goes under the brand name of Ozempic and comes from […]
February 9, 2022 — There’s a race heating up. It is a race to open the way for better obesity care and deliver better options. In this race, semaglutide (Wegovy™) has a head start. But a pack of other options are on the way. Yesterday in JAMA, results in a study of tirzepatide for treating type 2 diabetes tell […]
