Ozempic economics: How GLP-1s will disrupt the economy in 2025 | Hacker News Reader

Ozempic economics: How GLP-1s will disrupt the economy in 2025

washingtonpost.com

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Something (Wegovy) I need for medication-induced obesity, but cannot afford ($250/month or $3k/year out of pocket) because Medicare won't cover it. Even when it is "covered", it's a "specialty tier medication" that is even more expensive than that.

Most people forget that US Medicare isn't true universal, single-payer healthcare and is an excessively-complex, oft corporation-involved, half-measure. It is mostly better than Medicaid, healthcare for the very poor, which is even worse. Medicare Advantage is a total scam.

Have you looked into getting it compounded?

Compounding pharmacies can make generic semaglutide, the active ingredient in Ozempic and Wegovy. It's a synthetic chemical, so the medication should be functionally equivalent, although the FDA points out that in some cases compounding pharmacies make the wrong thing/dosage [1]. When done this way, the drug is not FDA-approved. But may be worth a shot.

Manufacturers are also complaining about patent infringement [1], so we will see how long this practice lasts.

[1] https://www.fda.gov/drugs/postmarket-drug-safety-information...

[2] https://www.npr.org/sections/shots-health-news/2024/11/20/nx...

Yes. That's the compounded price because the cheapest retail price of Wegovy for 4 weeks near me is $1311. It's compounded with vitamin b6 as a hackaround for $250. The manufacturing of semaglutide outside of Novo Nordisk was legally possible because of the scarcity problem. I don't feel at all bad because NN's CEO is a greedy prick who lacks shame about selectively bleeding poor Americans dry while selling it cheaper in the rest of the world.

https://glp1forum.com/

Buy your own tirzepatide from china. QSC batches all have purity tests, and cost about $200 for 400mg which will last a good year at a reasonable dose regimen

Don't you think I thought of that?

1. The reputation and business license of my local compounding pharmacy is on the line, so they cannot afford to sell anything fake.

2. Buying from China is likely fake crap, with fake purity tests.

Why would I gamble with my life to save 20% when I have a trustworthy source given to me from my doctor (who is not receiving any sort of kickback but is familiar with this specific opportunistic workaround)?

https://archive.vn/UxLXt

During the pandemic, Matt Levine of Bloomberg’s Money Stuff had a thought experiment about how large asset managers might approach vaccine companies and pay them to develop and rapidly scale vaccines, as this would be wildly economically favorable for the economy as a whole versus whatever vaccine makers would’ve made from traditional unit sales and competition. “Here’s a blank check, open the economy back up.” sort of thing.

https://www.bloomberg.com/opinion/articles/2021-02-24/the-va... | https://archive.is/2021.02.24-173233/https://www.bloomberg.c...

I see parallels in this. GLP-1s are going to be incredibly disruptive and there is an argument to be made that some interested parties might be incentivized to pull forward the eventuality of deployment at scale of this intervention. Of course, some industries are going to be impaired (food, alcohol); acceptable losses imho, businesses that profited and existed due to a malfunctioning reward center now patched with GLP-1s.

You can say this about any medical procedure as it improves the lifespan and health of someone. In theory this should mean that asset managers would like to have public healthcare so that workers can always give their 100%, and also have regulations for health and safety so that people get sick less often. And in some way those exist, but they are way less compared to europe. And generally that's considered good for businesses. On the other hand, the population bears the cost. Weak FDA means food poisoning is more likely. Many people live in food deserts. Etc.

Would a happy healthy and productive population would increase the GDP? Seems like universal healthcare would be a "no brainer" from the government's position. And in countries that do have socialized healthcare, there is definitely pressure on different arms of the government to suppress anything that increases burden on the healthcare system. Insane taxes on cigarettes and alcohol for example.

Countries that do have socialised healthcare, are economically stuck though. And socialised healthcare which relieves pressure on people might actually be one of the reasons.

I have a feeling that you identify not with the class which is in need of more motivation, but the class holding the whips.

I also think it's likely you are actually in the other class than what you believe.

"It's fine, good for you, even, for the common worker to live in constant fear of death and ruin because it makes my favorite billionaire 0.00000000000000000001% richer"

The same Matt Levine has also written about this topic, i.e. how Ozempic is simultaneously good and bad for shareholders.

If it worked like that, the US would have had public healthcare long ago.

I think the reason that hasn't happened (and that this public good mass vaccination attempt won't either) is that it would require a huge bet against a whole industry, the healthcare industry as it is. It goes maximally against the spirit of index funds/a balanced portfolio. Even if you pulled it off, wouldn't other people still reap most of the benefits too?

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