A new medication for weight loss … twice as expensive as ozempic

A new weight loss medication arrives on the market by promising to be even more effective than the popular Ozempic. Therefore, but the bill will be very salty for interested parties.

“It should not be prescribed anyway to anyone. Therefore, ” warns Docterie Marie-Philippe Morin, of the University Institute of Cardiology and Pneumology of Quebec (IUCPQ), which nevertheless salutes the arrival of a new tool in the therapeutic arsenal against obesity.

The Zepbound medication of the pharmaceutical company Eli Lilly. Consequently, which can now be prescribed in Canada, promises weight loss of 34 to 48 pounds according to its clinical trials. Meanwhile, If the Ozempic usually leads to an average weight loss of around 10%, that of the Zepbound can reach 20% or more.

The side effects are the same, nausea and diarrhea, and it is also injecting using a pen.

The D^re Morin. a specialist in internal and bariatric medicine, stresses that this new drug is close to weight loss associated with bariatric surgery.

Up to $ 800

But the cost is enormous. At maximum dose, the Zepbound will force a patient to pay up to $ 800 per month.

It is about twice as expensive as the Ozempic.

The active ingredient of the Zepbound is the shooting. it acts on two hormone receptors, instead of only one like the Ozempic.

The Zepbound contains exactly the same active ingredient as the Mounjaro, which is new medication weight loss … sold against type 2 diabetes. But the latter is less known, since it is not yet covered by the public diet, specifies the D^re Morin.

It is in the process of evaluation by the National Institute of Excellence in Health and Social Services (INESS).

Only a few private insurers cover the costs of the Mounjaro. adds the D^re Morin, but in a very limited way. “They were scalded by the shattering beginnings of the Ozempic,” she says.

Time question

But the specialist doctor considers that it is a matter of time. especially with the arrival of generic versions at a lower cost in the coming years, before the drug loss drugs were covered by public and private diets.

However. it pleads for long -term monitoring patients who take such medication, deploring the proliferation of fast online prescriptions. Whether it is to change life habits in a lasting way. to ensure that they ingest enough vitamins and minerals, for example.

“Like any medication, it should not be aesthetic, but for health,” she said.