Coupon ran out typically in my experience. It costs hundreds of dollars without it, and a lot of PBMs went after pharmacies clawing back upwards of $15k in claims from providers stating 1 each...
This article is very interesting to me and prompts the question, why are people stopping? Were you prescribed one of these drugs, did you stop taking it?
Coupon ran out typically in my experience. It costs hundreds of dollars without it, and a lot of PBMs went after pharmacies clawing back upwards of $15k in claims from providers stating 1 each instead of box on the prescription for the claim months after the fact.
Dirty tricks IMO. Coupons for meds and free samples for doctors should be flat-out banned. It's this kind of dirty marketing that gets people hooked on drugs they can't afford. And doctors...
Dirty tricks IMO. Coupons for meds and free samples for doctors should be flat-out banned.
It's this kind of dirty marketing that gets people hooked on drugs they can't afford. And doctors prescribing new drugs that do pretty much the same as old drugs, but aren't covered under most prescription drug plans.
Article: Exclusive: Most patients using weight-loss drugs like Wegovy stop within a year, data show - Reuters, 11 July 2023 Some lede and pullquotes for basic facts just in case of a paywall: This...
Some lede and pullquotes for basic facts just in case of a paywall:
Only about one-third of patients prescribed a popular weight-loss drug like Novo Nordisk’s Wegovy were still taking it a year later [...]
The analysis by [...] reviewed pharmacy and medical claims data for 4,255 people with commercial health plans. They had all received new prescriptions of the drugs from a class known as GLP-1 agonists between January and December 2021, and had a diagnosis of obesity, prediabetes or a body mass index of 30 or higher.
Overall, 32% of the patients were still taking the medicine for weight loss a year after their initial prescription [...] and the results did not differ materially based which of the drugs was prescribed
Patrick Gleason [...] a co-author of the analysis, said this real-world data suggests a substantial drop in adherence compared to what was reported in clinical trials. In trials with adults, Novo found that 6.8% of patients taking Wegovy discontinued treatment due to gastrointestinal problems and other adverse events.
Prime did not ask patients why their prescriptions stopped. [...] All the patients had insurance coverage for GLP-1 drugs.
This article is very interesting to me and prompts the question, why are people stopping? Were you prescribed one of these drugs, did you stop taking it?
For Wegovy especially (but other semiglutides too) - there are supply issues. Its a shame they didn't have data on why the prescriptions stopped. I would guess cost is also a concern - I've heard...
Were you prescribed one of these drugs, did you stop taking it?
For Wegovy especially (but other semiglutides too) - there are supply issues.
Its a shame they didn't have data on why the prescriptions stopped. I would guess cost is also a concern - I've heard the cost is $25-60 per dose on insurance, but given the $1500+ price tag without insurance it wouldn't surprise me if it was higher for some people.
I was actually under the impression that these drugs should only be used shorter term, 6 months or so, to allow people to begin making more sustainable long-term lifestyle changes. Is it designed...
I was actually under the impression that these drugs should only be used shorter term, 6 months or so, to allow people to begin making more sustainable long-term lifestyle changes. Is it designed to be used for years? That feels like a band-aid approach
Well, I also have the same thoughts about them, if the cause is diet and lifestyle related. But really it’s about the side effects long term, from what I’ve read the semaglutides have quite...
Well, I also have the same thoughts about them, if the cause is diet and lifestyle related. But really it’s about the side effects long term, from what I’ve read the semaglutides have quite unpleasant side effects that I can’t imagine would be acceptable to most people as a rest-of-life drug
In the article they’re not talking about people with diabetes, it was looking at people who had a “diagnosis of obesity, prediabetes or a body mass index of 30 or higher[…] For the analysis, Prime...
In the article they’re not talking about people with diabetes, it was looking at people who had a “diagnosis of obesity, prediabetes or a body mass index of 30 or higher[…] For the analysis, Prime Therapeutics excluded patients with type 2 diabetes to focus on obesity treatment.” This usage is for weight loss; I imagine after a year many patients are either seeing enough success to stop, or seeing so little success that the side effects aren’t worth it
My wife took one of these drugs for a few months before stopping. It wasn't the cost as her insurance covered the meds, it was the side effects of regular nausea and constipation that made her...
My wife took one of these drugs for a few months before stopping. It wasn't the cost as her insurance covered the meds, it was the side effects of regular nausea and constipation that made her stop. She lost a bunch of weight but the side effects were just too much to deal with. She said, "It's easy to lose weight when you're nauseous all the time and don't want to eat anything."
Wegovy is a brand name for semaglutide. The UK BNF says this about side effects: https://bnf.nice.org.uk/drugs/semaglutide/#side-effects Very Common means more than 1 in 10 people taking it...
Appetite decreased; burping; cholelithiasis; constipation; diarrhoea; dizziness; fatigue; gastrointestinal discomfort; gastrointestinal disorders; hypoglycaemia (in combination with insulin or sulfonylurea); nausea; vomiting; weight decreased
Very Common means more than 1 in 10 people taking it experience the side effect. Common means between 1 in 10 and 1 in 100 people experience the side effect.
Coupon ran out typically in my experience. It costs hundreds of dollars without it, and a lot of PBMs went after pharmacies clawing back upwards of $15k in claims from providers stating 1 each instead of box on the prescription for the claim months after the fact.
Dirty tricks IMO. Coupons for meds and free samples for doctors should be flat-out banned.
It's this kind of dirty marketing that gets people hooked on drugs they can't afford. And doctors prescribing new drugs that do pretty much the same as old drugs, but aren't covered under most prescription drug plans.
Article: Exclusive: Most patients using weight-loss drugs like Wegovy stop within a year, data show - Reuters, 11 July 2023
Some lede and pullquotes for basic facts just in case of a paywall:
This article is very interesting to me and prompts the question, why are people stopping? Were you prescribed one of these drugs, did you stop taking it?
For Wegovy especially (but other semiglutides too) - there are supply issues.
Its a shame they didn't have data on why the prescriptions stopped. I would guess cost is also a concern - I've heard the cost is $25-60 per dose on insurance, but given the $1500+ price tag without insurance it wouldn't surprise me if it was higher for some people.
I was actually under the impression that these drugs should only be used shorter term, 6 months or so, to allow people to begin making more sustainable long-term lifestyle changes. Is it designed to be used for years? That feels like a band-aid approach
People use hypertension and cholesterol drugs for long terms, no? I don't see why an obesity drug would be any different.
Well, I also have the same thoughts about them, if the cause is diet and lifestyle related. But really it’s about the side effects long term, from what I’ve read the semaglutides have quite unpleasant side effects that I can’t imagine would be acceptable to most people as a rest-of-life drug
I think the diabetes use is meant to be rest of life.
In the article they’re not talking about people with diabetes, it was looking at people who had a “diagnosis of obesity, prediabetes or a body mass index of 30 or higher[…] For the analysis, Prime Therapeutics excluded patients with type 2 diabetes to focus on obesity treatment.” This usage is for weight loss; I imagine after a year many patients are either seeing enough success to stop, or seeing so little success that the side effects aren’t worth it
Speaking of, mirror for those hit by the paywall:
https://archive.is/JLfyh
This seems like it didn't answer the most critical question, why did they stop.
My wife took one of these drugs for a few months before stopping. It wasn't the cost as her insurance covered the meds, it was the side effects of regular nausea and constipation that made her stop. She lost a bunch of weight but the side effects were just too much to deal with. She said, "It's easy to lose weight when you're nauseous all the time and don't want to eat anything."
Wegovy is a brand name for semaglutide. The UK BNF says this about side effects: https://bnf.nice.org.uk/drugs/semaglutide/#side-effects
Very Common means more than 1 in 10 people taking it experience the side effect. Common means between 1 in 10 and 1 in 100 people experience the side effect.
Some of these (especially cholelithiasis) suck.