Pharmaceutical companies are hiking prices for more than 700 medications, including popular weight-loss drugs Ozempic and Mounjaro, industry research shows.
The average price increase at year start was about about 4.5%, the analysis from 46 Brooklyn found. That represents a slightly slower pace compared with the five prior years, when drug prices rose about 5% each year on average, the data shows.
Among the noteworthy increases are Ozempic and Mounjaro, two drugs that belong to a class of medications called GLP-1 agonists. While these drugs are designed to help diabetics regulate their blood sugar, they’ve also been found to be effective weight-loss drugs, prompting non-diabetics to seek out the drugs in order to slim down. As a result, these drugs have been in greater demand, leading to shortages.
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Not all medications saw price hikes, with the analysis finding that about two dozen medications dropped sharply in price at year start, including some popular insulin products. The high cost of insulin has drawn attention from the Biden administration and health policy experts, with the Human Rights Watch terming its pricing in the U.S. as a human rights violation.
Ridiculous. We’re prescribing GLP-1 agonists more and more because they’re looking like a wonder drug for metabolic syndrome. Instead of ramping up production and leveraging economies of scale to save a whole lot of lives, they’re just going to make bank off of them.
Correct. They’re not in the business of saving lives, they’re in the business of threatening lives for profit.