Ever growing biotech and pharma industry
The companies that make drugs have evolved rapidly the past few decades. With the new technologies emerging, many brand-new drugs have been invented and proved to be effective for both common and rare diseases. The traditional pharma companies used to make small molecule drugs have also started making large molecule drugs such as biologics. Start-up biotech companies funded by various sources have joined the competition utilizing cutting-edge technologies and making gene therapy drugs. This new move of drug companies has accelerated the discovery of many breakthrough drugs which eventually benefit both the patients and communities.
In this featured work, we focus on introducing new drugs that are either recently approved to be used clinically or have potential to be on the market soon. While introducing new drugs, we are more patient-oriented and customer-focused. We support drug safety, advocate personalized medication, and allow customers to find the most effective drugs for themselves or their loved ones. Finally, we also believe that patients have the right to know the biological, pharmacological mechanisms and side effects of the drugs.
There are many cases that some new drugs are not immediately accessible to patients due to various reasons such as patients’ social or economic status. We are tasked to help patients access those drugs within our capacity.
We will introduce new drugs targeting on various diseases in our future articles or blogs. In this introductory report, we will talk about the recent popular drug that has gained quite traction. It is the weight loss drug Wegovy (active ingredient semaglutide) produced by Novo Nordisk. Wegovy is essentially the same drug as Ozempic, but with a higher dose specifically for weigh loss. Ozempic is used to treat Type 2 diabetes. With many individuals in US are considered overweight or obese, there is a great potential for the development of weight loss drugs. Wegovy is a GLP-1 receptor agonist that activates the receptors in the brain and lowers appetite, therefore, leading to weight loss. As most of drugs, Wegovy is not immune to side effects which may include fatigue, diarrhea, gastroesophageal reflux disease, and many more. Several other biopharma companies are researching on new weigh loss drugs to combat the unwanted side effects, reduce cost, and improve accessibility. Weight management is always a hot topic in the healthcare industry. It is beneficial for patients with obesity and helps reduce cardiovascular events in the long term.
With the popularity of the weight control drugs, the demand for those drugs have surpassed the supply. The manufacturers scramble to keep up with demand. To consumers without insurance, it is quite pricy to get Wegovy which costs around $1,430 for a supply of 2 ml for the subcutaneous solution (0.25mg/0.5ml) according to drugs.com. There is great difference among commercial insurance covering weigh loss drugs. It is always wise to check with the health insurance providers before getting the medications. We show you here that there are some ways to mitigate those costs.
- For people having private insurances covering Wegovy, they are qualified to get a $25 copay card that covers up to six 28-day fills (four injectable pens) of the medication. The copay card can be downloaded directly from Wegovy website.
- Most of the state Medicaid programs cover Wegovy. There are states that may not cover it. Check with your state Medicaid program before getting the prescription.
- VA and Tricare may cover the weight loss drug depending on medical necessity.
- For uninsured or underinsured individuals with low-income, work with your healthcare provider to get the drug if it is a covered drug under their 340B program. Learn more about the 340B program, go to here.
There are many specialty drugs and gene therapies that we will introduce later. Please reach us if you have any questions about information and accessibility of the medications.