40% of all US adults are now obese
The US healthcare system could be bankrupted by the cost of weight-loss drugs like Wegovy and Mounjaro, according to a new report by the Senate’s HELP Committee which modelled a variety of different uptake scenarios.
If even half of US adults with obesity end up taking a weight-loss drug, the total cost will be an estimated $411 billion a year, the report found. That’s $5 billion more than the $406 billion Americans spent in 2022 on all prescription drugs combined.
While the majority of the spending on weight-loss drugs is predicted to occur in the commercial market, and will probably lead to spikes in the cost of insurance premiums, taxpayer Medicare and Medicaid could also be forced to foot a bill of up to $166 billion a year, which is almost as much as the programs’ total expenditure of $175 billion in 2022.
By 2031, it’s reckoned that total spending on prescription drugs in the US could reach $1 trillion because of the uptake of weight-loss drugs. Without them, spending would be around $600 billion.
The HELP Committee has recommended that manufacturers like Novo Nordisk significantly reduce the cost of their new drugs in the US.
In the US, the estimated net price of a month’s worth of Wegovy is $809 after rebates, compared to $186 in Denmark. Analysis has suggested Wegovy could be manufactured at a cost of less than $5 a month.
If Novo Nordisk matched its Danish price, spending on Wegovy to treat obesity could be slashed dramatically, from $411 billion to $94.5 billion.
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