Ozempic is the semaglutide injectable dosage for diabetes, while Wegovy is a higher dosage for weight maintenance. There is a great deal of hate and discrimination surrounding obesity that it is somehow or always entirely voluntary or lesser than diabetes. Medicare and Medicaid do not cover Wegovy, even if weight gain is caused as a side-effect of another medication. Wegovy costs $1502.51 USD/month where I live, if you can get it. Medicare could save a great deal of money if they negotiated for prices to be the same as what people in other countries are paying and medication supplemental coverage formularies also covered preventative medications.
There will be pill form for Wegovy to match Rybelsus, or it may be collapsed into that single brand name differing only in dosage. The issue is the US profits on semaglutide are excessive. It, along with metformin, are the two most important medications to increase public health and reduce disease in relatively healthy populations. Perhaps the Defense Production Act could be enacted to manufacture generics of the most expensive and most QALY-positive medications.
Well, till today it's only widely available in the U.S. exactly because they are able to command a much higher price there (and 1/3 of the price is a kickback to the prescribing clinics/docs, by design, and it's a US-only thing).
It's only available in two EU countries (Denmark and Germany), and availability is patchy, and they are no longer accepting any new patients because of chronic shortages.
It will take several more years for everyone to have enough. It's like 155mm production - seems easy on paper, takes years and billions in reality, and we have to deal with chronic shortages and ridiculous 20x prices in the meantime.
There will be pill form for Wegovy to match Rybelsus, or it may be collapsed into that single brand name differing only in dosage. The issue is the US profits on semaglutide are excessive. It, along with metformin, are the two most important medications to increase public health and reduce disease in relatively healthy populations. Perhaps the Defense Production Act could be enacted to manufacture generics of the most expensive and most QALY-positive medications.