Nutriovia

It is easy to make a medical file for successful successful weight loss drugs like Wegovy and Zepbound, which have been demonstrated to prevent heart attacks and strokes and save lives.

But for employers and government programs invited to pay medication, the financial case for them is less clear. Do the advantages of drugs are worth their enormous cost?

The answer right now is no, according to a new study Published Friday in the journal Jama Health Forum, by researchers from the University of Chicago.

To be considered profitable by a common measure used by health economists, the price of Wegovy de Novo Nordisk should be reduced by more than 80%, to $ 127 per month, concluded the researchers. And Zepbound of Eli Lilly would only be profitable if his price was dropped by almost a third, at $ 361 per month. (Zepbound has justified a higher price, the researchers said because he produced greater advantages in clinical trials.)

“There is no doubt that drugs demonstrate enormous health benefits,” said David Kim, health economist at Chicago University and the main study, funded by government subsidies. “The problem is that the price is too high.”

There is a general hope that drugs will actually be paid for themselves in the long term, by making patients healthier and preventing costly medical bills. It is not yet clear if it will be true.

Eli Lilly rejected the conclusions of the new study, arguing that she had ignored the results of several clinical trials in which the company’s drug had shown advantages. Rather, he used “a set of limited data to draw radical conclusions,” said Courtney Kasinger, company spokesperson. And Liz Skrbkova, spokesperson for Novo Nordisk, said that there was “no universally accepted threshold for what determines that a drug is profitable”.

Employers and government programs pay different prices for drugs, and these figures are almost always kept secret. Researchers at the University of Chicago estimated the Wegovy price at $ 700 per month, on average, against $ 520 for Zepbound.

A huge demand for drugs has led to employers’ drugs, which has prompted some companies to impose restrictions on which can get them, or to stop the drugs completely. Con Edison, the public energy service that serves New York and the County of Westchester, recently said that it had to increase rates to compensate for the increase in expenses which included an increase in weight loss medication expenses.

Medicare covers drugs for patients with diabetes, and a much smaller subset of people who face obesity and other health, such as a heart problem or sleep apnea. The congress resisted the widening of the coverage for millions of additional overweight or obese elderly people, because it would be so expensive.

Patients paying for drugs using their own money instead of going through insurance are faced with variable prices; Some pay more than $ 1,300 per month. But for a low dose of zepbound, patients can pay $ 350 Outside his pocket, a price that researchers at the University of Chicago considered profitable.

To find their estimates, the researchers organized computer simulations of what could happen if overweight or obese people took one of the weight loss drugs for the rest of their lives. Based on the results of clinical trials, the model has projected advantages that could accumulate in the long term. Many overweight patients would never become obese, for example. Other patients would avoid diabetes or heart disease. They would remain productive and outside the hospital.

These advantages have increased to many years of good health – years of life so -called quality. Many health economists believe that it is reasonable for the company to pay $ 100,000 for each of these healthy years. But in the model, the years of good health provided by Wegovy and Zepbound are much more.

Pharmaceutical companies often repel fiercely against such profitability analyzes, claiming that they do not understand the real value that drugs can bring to patients and societies. However, they sometimes finance such studies. A Analysis funded by Novo NordiskSimilar to that of researchers from the University of Chicago, noted that the company’s weight loss medication was profitable.

It is easy to make a medical file for successful successful weight loss drugs like Wegovy and Zepbound, which have been demonstrated to prevent heart attacks and strokes and save lives.

But for employers and government programs invited to pay medication, the financial case for them is less clear. Do the advantages of drugs are worth their enormous cost?

The answer right now is no, according to a new study Published Friday in the journal Jama Health Forum, by researchers from the University of Chicago.

To be considered profitable by a common measure used by health economists, the price of Wegovy de Novo Nordisk should be reduced by more than 80%, to $ 127 per month, concluded the researchers. And Zepbound of Eli Lilly would only be profitable if his price was dropped by almost a third, at $ 361 per month. (Zepbound has justified a higher price, the researchers said because he produced greater advantages in clinical trials.)

“There is no doubt that drugs demonstrate enormous health benefits,” said David Kim, health economist at Chicago University and the main study, funded by government subsidies. “The problem is that the price is too high.”

There is a general hope that drugs will actually be paid for themselves in the long term, by making patients healthier and preventing costly medical bills. It is not yet clear if it will be true.

Eli Lilly rejected the conclusions of the new study, arguing that she had ignored the results of several clinical trials in which the company’s drug had shown advantages. Rather, he used “a set of limited data to draw radical conclusions,” said Courtney Kasinger, company spokesperson. And Liz Skrbkova, spokesperson for Novo Nordisk, said that there was “no universally accepted threshold for what determines that a drug is profitable”.

Employers and government programs pay different prices for drugs, and these figures are almost always kept secret. Researchers at the University of Chicago estimated the Wegovy price at $ 700 per month, on average, against $ 520 for Zepbound.

A huge demand for drugs has led to employers’ drugs, which has prompted some companies to impose restrictions on which can get them, or to stop the drugs completely. Con Edison, the public energy service that serves New York and the County of Westchester, recently said that it had to increase rates to compensate for the increase in expenses which included an increase in weight loss medication expenses.

Medicare covers drugs for patients with diabetes, and a much smaller subset of people who face obesity and other health, such as a heart problem or sleep apnea. The congress resisted the widening of the coverage for millions of additional overweight or obese elderly people, because it would be so expensive.

Patients paying for drugs using their own money instead of going through insurance are faced with variable prices; Some pay more than $ 1,300 per month. But for a low dose of zepbound, patients can pay $ 350 Outside his pocket, a price that researchers at the University of Chicago considered profitable.

To find their estimates, the researchers organized computer simulations of what could happen if overweight or obese people took one of the weight loss drugs for the rest of their lives. Based on the results of clinical trials, the model has projected advantages that could accumulate in the long term. Many overweight patients would never become obese, for example. Other patients would avoid diabetes or heart disease. They would remain productive and outside the hospital.

These advantages have increased to many years of good health – years of life so -called quality. Many health economists believe that it is reasonable for the company to pay $ 100,000 for each of these healthy years. But in the model, the years of good health provided by Wegovy and Zepbound are much more.

Pharmaceutical companies often repel fiercely against such profitability analyzes, claiming that they do not understand the real value that drugs can bring to patients and societies. However, they sometimes finance such studies. A Analysis funded by Novo NordiskSimilar to that of researchers from the University of Chicago, noted that the company’s weight loss medication was profitable.

It is easy to make a medical file for successful successful weight loss drugs like Wegovy and Zepbound, which have been demonstrated to prevent heart attacks and strokes and save lives.

But for employers and government programs invited to pay medication, the financial case for them is less clear. Do the advantages of drugs are worth their enormous cost?

The answer right now is no, according to a new study Published Friday in the journal Jama Health Forum, by researchers from the University of Chicago.

To be considered profitable by a common measure used by health economists, the price of Wegovy de Novo Nordisk should be reduced by more than 80%, to $ 127 per month, concluded the researchers. And Zepbound of Eli Lilly would only be profitable if his price was dropped by almost a third, at $ 361 per month. (Zepbound has justified a higher price, the researchers said because he produced greater advantages in clinical trials.)

“There is no doubt that drugs demonstrate enormous health benefits,” said David Kim, health economist at Chicago University and the main study, funded by government subsidies. “The problem is that the price is too high.”

There is a general hope that drugs will actually be paid for themselves in the long term, by making patients healthier and preventing costly medical bills. It is not yet clear if it will be true.

Eli Lilly rejected the conclusions of the new study, arguing that she had ignored the results of several clinical trials in which the company’s drug had shown advantages. Rather, he used “a set of limited data to draw radical conclusions,” said Courtney Kasinger, company spokesperson. And Liz Skrbkova, spokesperson for Novo Nordisk, said that there was “no universally accepted threshold for what determines that a drug is profitable”.

Employers and government programs pay different prices for drugs, and these figures are almost always kept secret. Researchers at the University of Chicago estimated the Wegovy price at $ 700 per month, on average, against $ 520 for Zepbound.

A huge demand for drugs has led to employers’ drugs, which has prompted some companies to impose restrictions on which can get them, or to stop the drugs completely. Con Edison, the public energy service that serves New York and the County of Westchester, recently said that it had to increase rates to compensate for the increase in expenses which included an increase in weight loss medication expenses.

Medicare covers drugs for patients with diabetes, and a much smaller subset of people who face obesity and other health, such as a heart problem or sleep apnea. The congress resisted the widening of the coverage for millions of additional overweight or obese elderly people, because it would be so expensive.

Patients paying for drugs using their own money instead of going through insurance are faced with variable prices; Some pay more than $ 1,300 per month. But for a low dose of zepbound, patients can pay $ 350 Outside his pocket, a price that researchers at the University of Chicago considered profitable.

To find their estimates, the researchers organized computer simulations of what could happen if overweight or obese people took one of the weight loss drugs for the rest of their lives. Based on the results of clinical trials, the model has projected advantages that could accumulate in the long term. Many overweight patients would never become obese, for example. Other patients would avoid diabetes or heart disease. They would remain productive and outside the hospital.

These advantages have increased to many years of good health – years of life so -called quality. Many health economists believe that it is reasonable for the company to pay $ 100,000 for each of these healthy years. But in the model, the years of good health provided by Wegovy and Zepbound are much more.

Pharmaceutical companies often repel fiercely against such profitability analyzes, claiming that they do not understand the real value that drugs can bring to patients and societies. However, they sometimes finance such studies. A Analysis funded by Novo NordiskSimilar to that of researchers from the University of Chicago, noted that the company’s weight loss medication was profitable.