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Comment by vl | Hacker News Reader

Compound itself is not that expensive. US prices are crazy as usual. In other countries it’s $300 for the month. In US you can buy off-brand semiglutide online for $300-$400 for the month as well.

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"off brand" and "online" for something that I'm going to consume (or inject?) sounds pretty scary to me! I don't buy even simple recipe ingredients on Amazon.

Over here doctors are required to write the prescription for generic (off-brand) versions of medication if available. This was introduced to counter promotions to the medical professionals by pharmaceutical companies.

The generics have the exact same active compounds and are regulated exactly the same.

I do not think Amazon or any other non-Pharmacy can legally fill prescriptions for medicines here, brand or generic.

Semiglutide is patented by Novo Nordisk, so in this case it’s not even clear where this online off-brand semiglutide comes from. I.e. it’s not legally produced as generic yet.

Is semaglutide itself patented, or is it the pen/delivery mechanism? The online sellers provide vials of semaglutide that need to be reconstituted and then drawn up / injected like insulin or other vial-based peptides. I assumed this is legal and possible because the patent is actually on the pen and not the peptide itself. But I haven't been able to confirm that one way or another. Even if that is the case, the ease of use is no doubt to me a huge part of the reason it has been so successful. I don't think it would have seen such widespread use if it were only available in vials.

Novo Nordisk is buying sacks of API from Chinese and Indian factories like everybody else.

It's on the FDA drug shortage list, that allows compounding pharmacies to sell it off brand.

This is illustration of real vs US healthcare prices, not call to action to buy off-brand online medicine.

To save money realistic options in US: if paying with insurance Novo Novordisk has some rebate system. And if paying out of pocket - buy in Canada.

In EU we consider 300$ a month for a drug expensive.

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