Buffalo, NY (WBEN) Drugs like Wegovy and Ozempic have been in high demand after they were found to help in losing weight. But could a Trump administration deal increase that demand even more?
Steve Giroux owns seven independent pharmacies in WNY and says demand has been high. "They are enormously effective for diabetes control. People that were formerly not able to get their diabetes under control with traditional medications, and these medications have really been miraculous from that are obviously quite expensive," says Giroux. He says GLP-1s as a category are not new, with a daily injectable available generically now, and the bi weekly injections available generically for some time as well. "But the daily ones that have been in the news for the last couple of years really haven't become available generically and are very expensive," he notes.
But he warns the devil is in the details. "We actually don't know the details of the Medicare negotiated price drugs of 10 of them that start January 1. We don't know the details of how that's going to work quite honestly, and potentially creating access issues for those 10 drugs for Medicare," explains Giroux.
He does anticipate increased demand. ".Obviously, with $1,300 expense versus $150 or something now for the new cash price, when you lower the price, that usually translates to more more use, more demand, whatever supply and demand kind of kind of impacts on those kinds of things," predicts Giroux.
Don Arthur of Brighton Eggert Pharmacy says demand has been extremely high for these drugs. "Since Ozempic specifically showed some real promise in weight loss, the supply has been at times sufficient, and at times there's been a shortage. But the issue from the beginning has been the high cost and the coverage with insurance, a lot of insurance plans specific to weight loss, just aren't covering it," says Arthur. He says he fills about ten of these prescriptions a day.
Arthur says President Trump, since 2016, has focused on high cost of prescription drugs in the country, and tried in his first term to resolve some of the inequities between prices in the United States and and prices in Canada and Europe and other countries. "He's focused on it now, which we think is a very good thing." He says he's paying roughly $1,000 for the Ozempic and $1,100 for Wegovy and $1,200 for Zepbound, while it's available for $150 in Europe and Canada and less than $100. "I think it's very good for our patients. It's good for the payer insurance, which the federal government, is the largest purchaser of prescription medication. So if he has success, if he has any traction at all in this area, I think it's going to be extremely beneficial to patients and the purchase of insurance," adds Arthur.
Giroux has one caveat. "The number one health crisis in America today is obesity and poor nutrition and all those things that go along with that. If we're going to use these weight loss drugs and not deal with our poor nutritional habits, we're also making a huge mistake medically," warns Giroux.