The CDC classifies BMI of 35 to 40 as “class 2 obesity” and 40 and higher as “class 3,” or what some refer to as severe or, previously, “morbid” obesity. (Photo by Jaap Arriens/NurPhoto via Getty Images) Jaap Arriens/NurPhoto/Getty ImagesĬNN Exclusive: Prescriptions for popular diabetes and weight-loss drugs soared, but access is limited for some patients The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention defines obesity as a BMI of 30 or more, and Saxenda – as well as other GLP-1 drugs – is approved for people with a BMI of at least 30, or with a BMI of 27 and at least one weight-related condition, like high blood pressure.Īn Ozempic (semaglutide) injection pen is seen on a kitchen table in Riga, Latvia on 06 August, 2023. Nguyen’s insurance denied it, she recalled, “because my BMI was not in the morbidly obese category.” Nguyen’s doctor then tried prescribing an older medicine from the same GLP-1 class, called Saxenda. Then the Mounjaro coupon program ended, and Nguyen was left without access to the medicines yet again. “Suddenly, you sort of feel seen and heard for the first time,” Nguyen said, “when obesity is kind of talked about as a disease rather than as a sort of lazy lifestyle.” And more than that, she said, having new medicines like these was gratifying in how she felt the field of medicine was approaching weight loss. “I just kind of felt neutral about it for the first time,” Nguyen said. She lost an additional 10 pounds and thinks she could have lost even more, except the drug was starting to be in short supply in higher doses, so she was stuck on a lower dose for longer than she otherwise might have been.Įven so, Nguyen said, she’d finally found something that was working for her, something that quieted the “food noise” that had made it hard to lose weight in the past. The manufacturer, Eli Lilly, offered a coupon to lower some patients’ copays, and that helped Nguyen get that medicine for about a year. By that point, a new option had come on the market: Mounjaro, a drug similar to Ozempic that’s approved for type 2 diabetes. I found something that works.’”īut after three months, Nguyen said, it wasn’t sustainable for her to keep paying so much out of pocket for the medicine. “It was enough to sort of feel like ‘oh, great. That could be a problem for food companies They can be more affordable, even out-of-pocket are less likely to be in shortage come with different side effects than Wegovy and similar drugs and are pills instead of injections.Īs overall prescriptions of weight-loss drugs have soared, those for older medicines in the category have as well – although on a more modest scale than drugs like Wegovy, according to data from Epic Research provided exclusively to CNN. Older weight-loss medicines have several benefits, Dushay said. Jody Dushay of Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center. “People come in the door seeking treatment with a GLP-1, and then for whatever reason, they can’t get it or change their mind,” said Nguyen’s physician, Dr. Like an increasing number of patients, Nguyen began taking a decades-old prescription drug for weight loss instead. Known as GLP-1 receptor agonists, they’re exploding in popularity but can sometimes be impossible to get because of insurance hurdles and shortages. That’s how Nguyen found herself on a 15-month journey through a new class of medications like Ozempic and Wegovy. Poison centers see nearly 1,500% increase in calls related to injected weight-loss drugs as people accidentally overdose Compounded versions of semaglutide typically come in multidose glass vials, and patients draw their own doses into syringes.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |