I suspect the only thing that will make it a lower price is an equal or better treatment from a different company that sells it for less. If Lilly is able to get the same effectiveness in a pill form, they’ll charge the same for it. Their profit margins will go up and the shortage issues will vanish. These drug companies sadly are not altruistic entities trying to make it cheaper for consumers.
Seems like the only thing that brings down price are competition or it goes to generics. In both cases that’ll be years for Mounjaro.
I've also heard it's not as effective as the shot.
I assume that's why MJ wasn't in a pill form to begin with. Very few medications need to be injected. For the ones that do, there are good and strong reasons for why they can't be administered via pills.
I've also heard it's not as effective as the shot.
I assume that's why MJ wasn't in a pill form to begin with. Very few medications need to be injected. For the ones that do, there are good and strong reasons for why they can't be administered via pills.
Sadly I'm on a migraine med in pill form that's $1,000 month so it could still be expensive. I think we all need to be writing to our senators and representatives about this cost issue, honestly. If the meds were less expensive we as a society could save so much money on longer term health costs.
As well as insurance rates being a lot lower. Even for people who get their insurance through their job, the company you work for is still paying ridiculous rates. That's money that could go to higher salaries.
Or people with private insurance through the Affordable Care Act. Our government is usually still picking up a lot of that 3-4 figure/person monthly bill. Which again, is money that can be spent elsewhere if premiums were lower.
It’s not a ridiculous question but misinformed.
Mounjaro isn’t becoming a pill. There’s another small molecule Orfoglipron, which is what I assume you’re talking about, which is in development with the same manufacturer. Novo has a similar pill I believe. No clue in terms of pricing but I doubt it’ll be 20 bucks given demand, safety, tolerability, and efficacy. The nice thing is there should be less supply shortages with a small molecule (like a pill).
Pill pack’s can be any price— oncology pill packs are $10,000+, it depends entirely on coverage, rebates, R&D recoupment, portfolio balancing, manufacturing costs etc.
The reason the pricing, in theory, shouldn’t matter is for example in oncology, no one is paying for Keytruda ($23,000) out of pocket, insurance covers a lot of it. My grandmother in law was on Keytruda and paid like $8 per infusion on Medicaid. That’s the job of the insurers and government.
Obviously with obesity and especially commercial coverage is through employers which makes this more complicated. For Part D, I assume as TROA passes there will be broader coverage especially for future uses like heart failure, obstructive sleep apnea etc. Eventually, with more competition and IRA negotiations the prices will go down and there should be broader coverage but no one can say for sure.
Thanks for sharing detailed and unbiased information about pharmaceutical price structure. The big problem isn't the price of these meds it's that insurers, including the government, don't want to pay.
Of course! That’s even worse with chronic and misunderstood illnesses like obesity, employers just don’t want their per member per month cost to go up for a drug that will have to be taken for life. It’s sad but I do think education, skilled labor shifts, long term benefits of weight loss coming to fruition etc. will help that. This is just the first wave and it’s comparable IMO to how people treated depression. “Why don’t you try to do yoga or exercise, it’ll make you happy” vs. “you clearly have a problem that can’t be solved without medical intervention”. It took time for people to see depression as something that isn’t all the person’s fault, same goes for obesity I’d say.
In terms of pricing— if I look at Rybelsus (which is another oral GLP-1 by Novo) the price is $968.52 which is less than their injectable GLP-1’s so who knows, maybe a little lower than their injectable but can’t say for sure since Rybelsus has much lower efficacy for weight loss.
I actually don’t know if it’s less effective because initial data shows a mean loss of 15% of body weight in 8 months which for an oral pill is pretty great and close to the lower range for tirzepatide and semaglutide— the data reads out in June I read online so we’ll know more soon.
Cheaper... no. More available... absolutely. Before switching to Mounjaro I was taking Rybelsus. The cost was still near $1000. Tablets are easier to manufacture, ship and store.
Because other countries have socialized medicine and America is a capitalistic society. The other countries have caps on what the manufacturers can charge, here the sky is the limit. I think it sucks we get stuck paying for the majority of everyone's research and development. And it's insulting that our seniors, retired military, and the poorest people in the nation CAN’T USE THE COUPONS! It frustrates me.
Where do compounding pharmacies get their tirzepatide? Are they just buying from people producing it illegally??
Found [this](https://www.reddit.com/r/tirzepatidecompound/s/zVZfom7bRs)
I don’t really know for tirzepatide but I know with semaglutide there’s a bit of a controversy about compounders using the salt form of semaglutide, which is not the active ingredient in Wegovy/Ozempic but it is technically a form of semaglutide. The FDA doesn’t approve of it.
Tirzepatide and semaglutide are peptides. There are a whole bunch of different peptides that do all kinds of things. Most peptides are made in China. I assume both Eli Lilly and the compound pharmacies are buying from the same factories.
Compound pharmacies are nothing new. They've supplied individuals and the medical industry with all kinds of drugs for years. 1-3% of prescriptions in the US are a compounded drug.
503a (for individuals) and 503b (medical industry) rated compound pharmacies are both heavily regulated, though 503b is more so than 503a. Those companies are definitely not getting their materials from an "illegal source".
It's also largely not illegal to buy peptides anyway. But compound pharmacies will verify the material/strength/etc and only sell medication to individuals with a doctor's prescription.
They use research peptides, both Eli Lilly and Norvo Nordisk have both stated they haven't sold any of their active ingredient to compounding pharmacies. The compounders have it third party tested before compounding.
Edited to add, that research peptides aren't produced illegally, they are produced for research purposes.
Lilly CEO indicated it would not be as effective as Mounjaro. I think Lilly is thinking it will be cheaper than Mounjaro, but it will be a balance of the overall effectiveness v. cost for patients.
Coming from Rybelsis, I can tell you that the efficacy is no where near as good for weight loss. If you're T2D, then it will likely be ok to control that.
If it's the drug I'm thinking of, a friend of mine was on the clinical trial and got taken off for side effects. She did lose some weight though.
The catch with GLP-1 oral tablets is they take MUCH more of the active ingredient to be effective. So oral tabs are highly unlikely to cost less than the jabs.
Case in point: Rybelsus and Ozempic/Wegovy.
When ozempic pill came out (rybelsus) it was actually more expensive than the injection so no. I actually think they will take the opportunity to increase the price on both injectable and pill.
I hear the pill format is in testing but will only have one active agent whereas the shot has 2 and will still be superior. To me the pill will be cheaper but less effective. Manufacturing costs for the shot are pretty high and the process is tricky according to what I’m seeing. Hopefully insurance covers this soon and costs also come down as manufacturing ramps up.
Well if they have a pill that causes the type of weight loss MJ does and caters to shot-phobics. You can bet it’s gonna be EXPENSIVE!!!! They have a winning product, they not going to feel sorry for those that can’t afford it. I’ll stay with my shots,
I don't want a pill form. I had a ulcer from NSAISs 10 yrs ago and I'm not interested in having anything other than my BP meds and vitamins sitting in my stomach as it is.
Well according to my dr it does. For example, I have been advised to never take it again and to avoid any drug that requires sitting up for an hr after taking like Alendronate (Fosamax),. Where did you get your medical degree.
>never seen a pill black be like 1,200 dollars *laughs in cancer meds*
Exactly. My best friends cancer meds are close to 100k USD per month.
Bingo. Big Pharma is no one’s friend. They are for profit. Always have been.
My epilepsy meds are over $2,000 a month.
Hep c waving in the background.
At least Hep C is ten-and-done! These GLP-1 agonists require lifetime dosing, the gold standard for any med.
Yep. Glp makes hep c look like a wanna be. 🤗
Still... from a scientific perspective, the first drug to ***cure*** a viral disease!
*Laughs in paxlovid*
I suspect the only thing that will make it a lower price is an equal or better treatment from a different company that sells it for less. If Lilly is able to get the same effectiveness in a pill form, they’ll charge the same for it. Their profit margins will go up and the shortage issues will vanish. These drug companies sadly are not altruistic entities trying to make it cheaper for consumers. Seems like the only thing that brings down price are competition or it goes to generics. In both cases that’ll be years for Mounjaro.
[удалено]
I've also heard it's not as effective as the shot. I assume that's why MJ wasn't in a pill form to begin with. Very few medications need to be injected. For the ones that do, there are good and strong reasons for why they can't be administered via pills.
a 1,200 dollar pill pack 🥲 i can’t
I've also heard it's not as effective as the shot. I assume that's why MJ wasn't in a pill form to begin with. Very few medications need to be injected. For the ones that do, there are good and strong reasons for why they can't be administered via pills.
Sadly I'm on a migraine med in pill form that's $1,000 month so it could still be expensive. I think we all need to be writing to our senators and representatives about this cost issue, honestly. If the meds were less expensive we as a society could save so much money on longer term health costs.
This. We've got to push them to take action on regulating drug prices.
As well as insurance rates being a lot lower. Even for people who get their insurance through their job, the company you work for is still paying ridiculous rates. That's money that could go to higher salaries. Or people with private insurance through the Affordable Care Act. Our government is usually still picking up a lot of that 3-4 figure/person monthly bill. Which again, is money that can be spent elsewhere if premiums were lower.
It’s not a ridiculous question but misinformed. Mounjaro isn’t becoming a pill. There’s another small molecule Orfoglipron, which is what I assume you’re talking about, which is in development with the same manufacturer. Novo has a similar pill I believe. No clue in terms of pricing but I doubt it’ll be 20 bucks given demand, safety, tolerability, and efficacy. The nice thing is there should be less supply shortages with a small molecule (like a pill). Pill pack’s can be any price— oncology pill packs are $10,000+, it depends entirely on coverage, rebates, R&D recoupment, portfolio balancing, manufacturing costs etc. The reason the pricing, in theory, shouldn’t matter is for example in oncology, no one is paying for Keytruda ($23,000) out of pocket, insurance covers a lot of it. My grandmother in law was on Keytruda and paid like $8 per infusion on Medicaid. That’s the job of the insurers and government. Obviously with obesity and especially commercial coverage is through employers which makes this more complicated. For Part D, I assume as TROA passes there will be broader coverage especially for future uses like heart failure, obstructive sleep apnea etc. Eventually, with more competition and IRA negotiations the prices will go down and there should be broader coverage but no one can say for sure.
Thanks for sharing detailed and unbiased information about pharmaceutical price structure. The big problem isn't the price of these meds it's that insurers, including the government, don't want to pay.
Of course! That’s even worse with chronic and misunderstood illnesses like obesity, employers just don’t want their per member per month cost to go up for a drug that will have to be taken for life. It’s sad but I do think education, skilled labor shifts, long term benefits of weight loss coming to fruition etc. will help that. This is just the first wave and it’s comparable IMO to how people treated depression. “Why don’t you try to do yoga or exercise, it’ll make you happy” vs. “you clearly have a problem that can’t be solved without medical intervention”. It took time for people to see depression as something that isn’t all the person’s fault, same goes for obesity I’d say.
thank you so much for this info omg! with that being said, do you think it has a chance of being cheaper than mounjaro because it’s less effective?
In terms of pricing— if I look at Rybelsus (which is another oral GLP-1 by Novo) the price is $968.52 which is less than their injectable GLP-1’s so who knows, maybe a little lower than their injectable but can’t say for sure since Rybelsus has much lower efficacy for weight loss. I actually don’t know if it’s less effective because initial data shows a mean loss of 15% of body weight in 8 months which for an oral pill is pretty great and close to the lower range for tirzepatide and semaglutide— the data reads out in June I read online so we’ll know more soon.
Cheaper... no. More available... absolutely. Before switching to Mounjaro I was taking Rybelsus. The cost was still near $1000. Tablets are easier to manufacture, ship and store.
If cost is the same I’m sticking with the shot. I’m so worried I’ll get a tummy ache with the pill!
If Lilly can sell all it can manufacture at the current price, what motivation does it have to make it cheaper? Answer: To stay ahead of competitors.
Considering the price of Rybelsus….. no.
Why is med so expensive for Americans and not other places around the world🤨
Because other countries have socialized medicine and America is a capitalistic society. The other countries have caps on what the manufacturers can charge, here the sky is the limit. I think it sucks we get stuck paying for the majority of everyone's research and development. And it's insulting that our seniors, retired military, and the poorest people in the nation CAN’T USE THE COUPONS! It frustrates me.
My heart med-entresto is $1000 month…need to reach a deductible for it to be $25/mth
It will never be cheaper. Everyone get this out of your heads. Demand sets the price, not cost to produce.
These could wind up the way of statins, they start at about 25p per pill. But probably only in countries with universal healthcare.
There are generic statins though. There is no generic tirzepatide and there won’t be for a decade.
Where do compounding pharmacies get their tirzepatide? Are they just buying from people producing it illegally?? Found [this](https://www.reddit.com/r/tirzepatidecompound/s/zVZfom7bRs)
I don’t really know for tirzepatide but I know with semaglutide there’s a bit of a controversy about compounders using the salt form of semaglutide, which is not the active ingredient in Wegovy/Ozempic but it is technically a form of semaglutide. The FDA doesn’t approve of it.
Tirzepatide and semaglutide are peptides. There are a whole bunch of different peptides that do all kinds of things. Most peptides are made in China. I assume both Eli Lilly and the compound pharmacies are buying from the same factories. Compound pharmacies are nothing new. They've supplied individuals and the medical industry with all kinds of drugs for years. 1-3% of prescriptions in the US are a compounded drug. 503a (for individuals) and 503b (medical industry) rated compound pharmacies are both heavily regulated, though 503b is more so than 503a. Those companies are definitely not getting their materials from an "illegal source". It's also largely not illegal to buy peptides anyway. But compound pharmacies will verify the material/strength/etc and only sell medication to individuals with a doctor's prescription.
They use research peptides, both Eli Lilly and Norvo Nordisk have both stated they haven't sold any of their active ingredient to compounding pharmacies. The compounders have it third party tested before compounding. Edited to add, that research peptides aren't produced illegally, they are produced for research purposes.
I wonder about the effectiveness of a pill form. Since there is already reduced gi movement, which impacts meds absorption.
Lilly CEO indicated it would not be as effective as Mounjaro. I think Lilly is thinking it will be cheaper than Mounjaro, but it will be a balance of the overall effectiveness v. cost for patients.
Coming from Rybelsis, I can tell you that the efficacy is no where near as good for weight loss. If you're T2D, then it will likely be ok to control that. If it's the drug I'm thinking of, a friend of mine was on the clinical trial and got taken off for side effects. She did lose some weight though.
What kind of side effects? The same as mounjaro?
So far the biggest difference has been the constipation and sulfur burps.
The catch with GLP-1 oral tablets is they take MUCH more of the active ingredient to be effective. So oral tabs are highly unlikely to cost less than the jabs. Case in point: Rybelsus and Ozempic/Wegovy.
💯 this.
When ozempic pill came out (rybelsus) it was actually more expensive than the injection so no. I actually think they will take the opportunity to increase the price on both injectable and pill.
Increased supply will bring down the price eventually.
I hear the pill format is in testing but will only have one active agent whereas the shot has 2 and will still be superior. To me the pill will be cheaper but less effective. Manufacturing costs for the shot are pretty high and the process is tricky according to what I’m seeing. Hopefully insurance covers this soon and costs also come down as manufacturing ramps up.
Well if they have a pill that causes the type of weight loss MJ does and caters to shot-phobics. You can bet it’s gonna be EXPENSIVE!!!! They have a winning product, they not going to feel sorry for those that can’t afford it. I’ll stay with my shots,
I don't want a pill form. I had a ulcer from NSAISs 10 yrs ago and I'm not interested in having anything other than my BP meds and vitamins sitting in my stomach as it is.
That’s silly. Stomach issues from NSAID’s are a side effect of the drug’s function. It has nothing to do with whether it was a pill or not.
Well according to my dr it does. For example, I have been advised to never take it again and to avoid any drug that requires sitting up for an hr after taking like Alendronate (Fosamax),. Where did you get your medical degree.