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Kos Diabetes Group: The Ozempic Ripoff [1]

['This Content Is Not Subject To Review Daily Kos Staff Prior To Publication.']

Date: 2023-08-30  

My father and my mentor both died of complications of diabetes after decades of deteriorating health, including horrible neuropathy. I have been on various diabetes medications for 26 years now, without serious complications. A little tingling in the toes, but no full-blown, no-sensation neuropathy. An occasional sore that takes a long time to heal. I currently take glipizide twice daily, insulin only if my blood sugar spikes, and Ozempic once weekly.

I also wear an Abbott Labs Freestyle Libre 3 Continuous Glucose Monitor (CGM). It talks to my cell phone via Bluetooth, so I have a continuous record of my blood sugar levels. The app can alert me to high or low blood sugar long before I can feel it, so I can eat some of my favorite carbs or take an insulin shot as needed. Maybe a glucose tablet or two.

The app offers other views of that history, including time within range, and a measure called GMI (Glucose Management Indicator). GMI is designed to have the same range as A1C, and to give similar numbers. It is based on continuous measurement of glucose, not on lab measurements of glucose bound to hemoglobin. My readings have been between 6 and 7 most of the time. As I write this, I am at 6.5.

I’m lucky. I can get four doses of Ozempic with my insurance for $191.42 at CVS, but not from a number of other pharmacies. It would be $307.43/28 days at Express Scripts online.

Ozempic, Wegovy maker lobbies Congress to get Medicare to cover its weight loss drugs

Medicare Price Negotiations

The price negotiation program, established by Democrats as part of the Inflation Reduction Act, is projected to save the government tens of billions of dollars in the coming years. Drugs Selected for Price Negotiations 1. Eliquis, for preventing strokes and bloodclots, from Bristol Myers Squibb and Pfizer 2. Jardiance, for diabetes and heart failure,from Boehringer Ingelheim and Eli Lilly 3. Xarelto, for preventing strokes and blood clots, from Johnson & Johnson 4. Januvia, for diabetes, from Merck 5. Farxiga, for diabetes, heart failure and chronic kidney disease, from AstraZeneca 6. Entresto, for heart failure, from Novartis 7. Enbrel, for arthritis and other autoimmune conditions, from Amgen 8. Imbruvica, for blood cancers, from AbbVie and Johnson & Johnson 9. Stelara, for Crohn’s disease, from Johnson &Johnson 10. Fiasp and NovoLog insulin products, for diabetes, from Novo Nordisk

This news just came out after I finished the initial version of this Diary. There are five diabetes medications on that list, including two from Novo Nordisk. Again, we will, as Biden always says,

Finish the job.

There will be 15 more drugs on the list in 2024 and again in 2025, and then 20 a year from then on. Negotiations on the first 10 start today, and are required to by completed by September 2024. The screaming from Big Pharma has begun.

Request for Assistance

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[1] Url: https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2023/8/30/2190326/-Kos-Diabetes-Group-The-Ozempic-Ripoff

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