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The primary main medical insurance firms within the U.S. will begin paying for Novo Nordisk’s standard weight reduction injection Wegovy, in keeping with a Wall Street Journal unique report revealed Friday.
Kaiser Permanente, Elevance Well being, and CVS Well being’s Aetna insurance coverage unit mentioned in statements that they’d cowl Wegovy, also referred to as semaglutide, to scale back the chance of coronary heart assault and stroke. The information arrives one week after the U.S. Facilities for Medicare and Medicaid Providers stated that beneficiaries underneath Medicare could be lined for Wegovy if it was prescribed to handle coronary heart well being.
Associated: Popular Appetite Suppressant Ozempic Can Be Made For Less Than $5 a Month, New Research Suggests
The Wegovy protection begins instantly for some plans, like Kaiser Permanente’s, whereas different plans, like these from Elevance, will begin masking the drug within the weeks to come back.
Wegovy is an injectable prescription weight reduction drugs. (Picture by: Michael Siluk/UCG/Common Photos Group by way of Getty Photos)
Earlier this month, the U.S. Meals and Drug Administration approved Wegovy for coronary heart well being based mostly on a worldwide research revealed final 12 months within the New England Journal of Medicine that confirmed that the drug may scale back the chance of coronary heart assault and stroke by 20%. The drug had beforehand solely been authorized within the U.S. for diabetes, in keeping with Bloomberg.
The research included 17,604 folks ages 45 and up from 41 international locations and tracked them for at the very least three years on common. The aim was to look at how Wegovy impacted coronary heart illness and weight, however not diabetes.
The members who acquired weekly injections of Wegovy misplaced about 9% of their physique weight and noticed enhancements in blood stress, blood sugar, levels of cholesterol, and irritation.
“We’re more than happy that Wegovy is now authorized within the U.S. as the primary remedy to assist folks handle their weight and scale back cardiovascular dangers,” Martin Holst Lange, government vp and head of improvement at Novo Nordisk, told the WSJ.
Associated: Novo Nordisk Is Worth More Than Denmark’s GDP Thanks to America’s Ozempic and Wegovy Craze
The research did uncover downsides to Wegovy, with a couple of third of members experiencing severe unwanted side effects. About 17% of those that took Wegovy left the research due to stomach-related points like nausea, reported the Associated Press.
Wegovy prices $1,349 each month if a person opts to make use of it with out insurance coverage protection within the U.S.
A recent study on weight reduction medicine confirmed {that a} comparable providing from producer Novo Nordisk known as Ozempic, which fits for near $1,000 per thirty days and is a lower-dose model of Wegovy, may very well be profitably made for much lower than its present market worth.
When the researchers calculated a cost-based worth for Ozempic that included a revenue margin, working prices, and tax, they discovered a worth starting from $0.89 to $4.73 per thirty days — far decrease than the $935.77 that Ozempic at present prices out of pocket within the US.
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