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The FDA will likely approve the diabetes drug tirzepatide for weight loss

nbcnews.com

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Re: The FDA will likely approve the diabetes drug tirzepatide for weight loss

#61

Post by hoseja »

JamesBarney wrote: post #21
barbariangrunge wrote: post #10

1100-1500/month is pretty brutal. It’s a bit of a middle finger pointed at lower income people

Unfortunately it's really expensive to research and produce drugs and somebody's gotta pay for it. The rest of world isn't willing to so it looks like rich people's insurance is the one that will foot the bill which means lower income people have to wait. It sucks and it's a inefficient way to fund research but it's better than the alternative where no one funds this research and we (both rich and poor) never get the…

Pharma profits so far could pay for research thousand years into the future.

Re: The FDA will likely approve the diabetes drug tirzepatide for weight loss

#62

Post by simfree »

robertheadley wrote: post #3

I am currently taking this drug in an attempt to get my blood sugar level down. I have lost about 15 lbs but my insurance did not want to cover it. Thankfully, Eli Lilly has a $25 coupon to cover it.

Does the coupon make it cost $25, or just reduce the cost by $25? Any other specifics on this would be super helpful!

Re: The FDA will likely approve the diabetes drug tirzepatide for weight loss

#63

Post by e1g »

simfree wrote: post #62
robertheadley wrote: post #3

I am currently taking this drug in an attempt to get my blood sugar level down. I have lost about 15 lbs but my insurance did not want to cover it. Thankfully, Eli Lilly has a $25 coupon to cover it.

Does the coupon make it cost $25, or just reduce the cost by $25? Any other specifics on this would be super helpful!

I’m seeing one of the doctors quoted in the article and they say nobody knows what’s going on with pricing or what will happen next year when the drug gets approved.

The coupon is from the manufacturer and brought the total cost to $25 out of pocket. However, in Oct the rules changed and now there is lots of confusion about eligibility and costs. Most pharmacies refuse to deal with this at all, and last week I paid $500 (for a monthly dose).

Re: The FDA will likely approve the diabetes drug tirzepatide for weight loss

#64

Post by JamesBarney »

hoseja wrote: post #61
JamesBarney wrote: post #21

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Unfortunately it's really expensive to research and produce drugs and somebody's gotta pay for it. The rest of world isn't willing to so it looks like rich people's insurance is the one that will foot the bill which means lower income people have to wait. It sucks and it's a inefficient way to fund research but it's better than the alternative where no one funds this research and we (both rich and poor) never get the…

Pharma profits so far could pay for research thousand years into the future.

Pharma companies have profits that are around 13% mostly comparable to other companies of the same size doing lots of r&d.

Re: The FDA will likely approve the diabetes drug tirzepatide for weight loss

#65

Post by voisin »

moneywoes wrote: post #36
o10449366 wrote: post #20

Drugs like Adderall don't mimic the hormones talked about in the article, right? I took Adderall XR once a day in college which completely suppressed my appetite and, combined with being a poor student that couldn't always afford lunch, I would frequently only eat one meal a day (either breakfast or dinner.) Since I graduated college many years ago, I also stopped taking Adderall but my sense of hunger has never retu…

Low metabolism perhaps?

I suggest reading the new book, Burn: The New Science of Metabolism.

Re: The FDA will likely approve the diabetes drug tirzepatide for weight loss

#66

Post by marcus0x62 »

ck2 wrote: post #14

All these new "weight loss" drugs are semaglutide peptide https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Semaglutide No way messing with insulin production doesn't have long-term delayed consequences.

Sure, but being grossly overweight also has a tendency to “mess with insulin production”. That’s how type 2 diabetes works: your musculoskeletal cells become resistant to insulin and your pancreas produces more and more until it can’t keep up.

Re: The FDA will likely approve the diabetes drug tirzepatide for weight loss

#67

Post by refurb »

asdff wrote: post #59
refurb wrote: post #58

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What the difference between consumers paying for drugs directly or paying taxes that pay for the drugs?

Many. For one the government can now collectively bargain for better prices. They can also subsidize the drug such that its available for everyone who needs it, not just those who have great insurance or who can afford to pay entirely out of pocket. Keeping your working population healthy has massive second order effects on the economy, it would be an investment paying for medical care. Where does this money come fro…

If the government is making the drugs how do they bargain for a price?

And if the inefficiency of the government in terms of defense spending is any indication, I’m sure we’d be getting way less for our money than we currently do.

Re: The FDA will likely approve the diabetes drug tirzepatide for weight loss

#68

Post by EamonnMR »

Steven420 wrote: post #8
toomuchtodo wrote: post #6

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Eating better and working out is hard. If the medication can get you a similar outcome with minimal side effects, that seems like a prudent protocol to prescribe. If it’s determined to be safe (statistically), why not? Might only be necessary until we can inexpensively synthesize miR-1: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=34196488

Unfortunately there aren't any shortcuts to good health

My understanding is that the way the drug works is by improving your diet.

Re: The FDA will likely approve the diabetes drug tirzepatide for weight loss

#69

Post by cptcobalt »

pknomad wrote: post #49

Disclaimer - I'm just a mere biochem grad who've taken some grad level courses in physiology so my question is coming from curiosity and healthy dose of ignorance. I took a cursory glance at the wiki page ( https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tirzepatide ) and it seems like it's working wonders on weight loss by targeting satiety. Weight loss still occurs when calorie out exceeds calorie input so it's not fundamentally cha…

This is a regressive opinion.

If we have tools available that can solve problems—as humans are not perfect—then why not use them? Do you not enjoy the benefits of other medicine that solves problems you have, like susceptibility to Covid?

We should always be on the conquest to improve our livelihoods. If that means introducing a drug to combat obesity so that scores of people can extend their lifespans by being healthier, that is a good thing.

Re: The FDA will likely approve the diabetes drug tirzepatide for weight loss

#70

Post by damascus »

pknomad wrote: post #49

Disclaimer - I'm just a mere biochem grad who've taken some grad level courses in physiology so my question is coming from curiosity and healthy dose of ignorance. I took a cursory glance at the wiki page ( https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tirzepatide ) and it seems like it's working wonders on weight loss by targeting satiety. Weight loss still occurs when calorie out exceeds calorie input so it's not fundamentally cha…

> patients who lose weight this way still needs this drug to keep it off.

Purely anecdotal N=1 but I was also 285 at one point in my life and went through an intensive weight loss program through my work and lost about 60 lbs in 3 months. That was about 15 years ago. Since then I've done several 3 day fasts and many weeks of One Meal A Day. I think that program showed me experientially what its like to go without as much food as I thought I needed.. so even when the program ended I had a totally different concept of food. Maybe this drug can do something similar. I think so much of overeating for a lot of people is just purely habitual or a misconception that 'my body needs food every 3 hours' when really it doesn't at all, that's just how you've currently conditioned it.

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