The price of Wegovy will quickly be coated by Medicare, in keeping with an announcement from the federal medical health insurance program for seniors on Thursday. And whereas that’s nice information for individuals over 65 who need entry to a drugs that’s drawn a lot consideration for its potential to help with weight loss, there’s only one catch. Medicare will solely pay if sufferers have probably severe coronary heart issues.
Wegovy is the model identify of Novo Nordisk’s anti-obesity treatment semaglutide, first accredited within the U.S. in 2021. And together with Ozempic, which can be made by Novo Nordisk, the medication have change into hot-ticket gadgets for individuals trying to drop a few pounds. However the price of Wegovy, which might be over $1,300 a month, has been prohibitively costly for a lot of Individuals.
Wegovy was discovered to scale back coronary heart assaults and strokes in a significant trial last summer, paving the best way for the FDA to approve docs with the ability to prescribe the treatment for that function earlier this month.
A spokesperson with Novo Nordisk, which relies in Denmark, informed Gizmodo on Thursday the corporate is inspired by the brand new steering from the Facilities for Medicare and Medicaid Companies, however confused that weight problems alone was a problem that ought to get correct consideration when the federal government is providing this type of monetary assist.
“Wegovy is the one weight administration drugs that can be accredited to scale back the danger of main antagonistic cardiovascular occasions in sufferers with established heart problems and both weight problems or chubby. However there’s extra work to be completed as a result of Half D protection remains to be not obtainable for weight problems medicines when used for power weight administration,” the Novo Nordisk individual wrote.
The Inflation Discount Act, handed in 2022, included various new provisions to assist these on Medicare, together with a brand new cap on prescription drug prices of $3,000 that takes impact this 12 months. That change will assist about 1 million seniors who pay for extremely expensive medication generally utilized in most cancers sufferers.
However even with constructive adjustments just like the Inflation Discount Act, the price of medication within the U.S. remains to be astronomically excessive in comparison with different nations. And these sorts of enhancements assist these on Medicare, the fee is borne by the taxpayer somewhat than via a negotiation of decrease costs usually achieved in peer nations. Medicare was banned from negotiating costs on most medication in 2003, a disastrous regulation that’s now being slowly rolled again by laws championed by Democrats and President Joe Biden.
The Related Press factors on the market’s severe debate about whether or not Medicare ought to cowl anti-obesity medication like Wegovy, actually because it’s not clear whether or not the excessive costs paid by the federal government will probably be offset by decreases in prices for treating obesity.
“We’ll proceed to advocate for insurance policies that allow entry to weight problems medicines for the numerous sufferers who don’t but have protection,” Novo Nordisk informed Gizmodo. “Collaboration throughout the healthcare system is essential to teach and to broaden protection of weight problems medicines.”
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