Waddya mean, Kim?
Go ahead and watch this video, and wait for this magic line to appear:
…and ask: why not?
Look, I’m a capitalist, and I believe in the sanctity of patents. But when the loaded cost of a product is around $5 — hell, call it $10 even — and the retail price ends up being $1,000, even my capitalist free-market mind starts turning towards government intervention.
We Americans are getting screwed, and it’s time Uncle Sam did something useful for its people, for a change.
And after all, the Danes of all people should understand the concept of government intervention in the market.
Of course, on this occasion I have a dog in this fight. My GP has strongly recommended that I continue to take Ozempic, not just for weight loss — I’ve reached my goal weight — but also for heart health and diabetes prevention. But at $250 per month, I won’t be able to do it for much longer.
Write to your congressman and senator. I already have.
The correct and just price of a product or service is what people are prepared to pay for it. And if the provider really is making super profits, competition will soon take care of it. Econ 101.
Yes
” competition will soon take care of it” No, because the drug is protected by patent, which provides a certain period of time where the competition cannot just replicate the production of a drug. Yes, once in production the per unit cost of drug is very low. But that not including the cost of developing and testing the drugs that are successful at doing what they were intended to do along with the cost of developing all the ones that weren’t.
And don’t forget that these drugs were NOT developed as weight loss drugs. The weight loss is a SIDE EFFECT of what was intended to be a diabetes fighting drug.
FWIW, the manufacturer of the market’s low-price leader — ReLion insulin which WalMart and Sam’s sell for $24.95 per 10ml vial is Novo Nordisk. And… they are far from the greediest of the greedy bastards in Big Pharma.
The consumer is not free to choose not to purchase these medications. Choosing not to purchase is an act of defiance to the medical establishment. There is always the implied threat of government sanctions as was demonstrated during the Covid hysteria. If a free market existed, there would be those who would decline the supposed benefits of the drugs at any particular price. Very few would voluntarily pay the current price. There would be some equilibrium price where the company would be willing to supply and most consumers would be willing to pay. The existence of a patent monopoly would increase the equilibrium price, but in an otherwise free market would be unlikely to result in the extreme imbalance that occurs in this situation with the combined effects of patent monopoly, medical coercion, and subsidized medicine.
…… along with the inability or unwillingness of the large bulk purchasers of these medicines ( government agencies and healthcare providers / insurance plans ) to negotiate a lower price. Somehow everyone in the chain is getting a piece of the exorbitant charge.
Now that you’ve dropped some gross tonnage, wouldn’t diet and exercise (both should be easier now) be a better investment for weight maintenance, heart health, and diabeetus prevention?
You had some help getting there, now maintenance should be easy.
As I understand it, when you stop taking these new ” miracle drugs ” the weight comes back over time because your body had become accustomed to your previous “normal weight”. So, yes, it’s only a temporary fix to the symptoms, not a permanent cure for the core problems.
What Ted says. But as mentioned above, the weight loss is just a side-benefit of Ozempic — albeit a very welcome one. In my case, the real benefits are the anti-diabetic and heart health ones, hence my MD’s support thereof.