“We already have a duopoly” in the GLP-1 market, said Adam Steensberg, chief executive of Danish biotech Zeeland Pharma, which is developing alternative hormone-based weight loss products. speak
Combining different drugs may further expand the effects of GLP-1. Perkovic and other doctors envision a potential future treatment plan for patients with chronic kidney disease that would combine existing drugs with GLP-1 to significantly reduce the risk of organ failure.
However, the initial cost of GLP-1 is likely to prevent widespread access needed for treatments to address cardiometabolic diseases around the world.
Wegovy’s U.S. list price is $1,349 for a one-month course. Airfinity estimates that the cost of preventing serious cardiovascular events such as heart attacks and strokes will likely be closer to $1.3 million. The estimates assume that an average of 67 people would need more than three years of treatment to achieve such results, and that the drug would be available at a significant discount from list price.
Side effects such as nausea, diarrhea and fatigue also remain a problem for some users, a challenge that pharmaceutical companies and doctors are trying to address. U.S. health insurance company Blue Health Intelligence found that 30 percent of U.S. GLP-1 users discontinue use within a month, with poorer patients more likely to stop taking the drug. .
Professor Sattar, from the University of Glasgow, looks to the “distant future” when low-cost GLP-1 can be administered orally to patients with conditions such as diabetes, adding: “We can tackle obesity and other negative effects in a way that does not overwhelm the health system. “It can be done.” ”
Although progress has been made in cardiometabolic diseases, Rix’s comments are the first sign that drug companies will conduct clinical trials in areas such as addiction. Even if scientists establish a link, there is a long way to go before it is approved for use here.
Nora Borkow, director of the National Institute on Drug Abuse, said treating addiction may not be a commercial priority for pharmaceutical groups. GLP-1 has already generated significant sales for Novo Nordisk and Eli Lilly, but there is still a huge target market as many obese patients have not yet received GLP-1.
“It can be difficult if the pharmaceutical industry says, ‘Why should I care?’ I’m making far more money prescribing these things for obesity. ” says Volkow.
Additional reporting by Oliver Burns in New York
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