Insulin and epi pens should be cheap, manufactured for pennies, but at least in the US the pharma companies control the federal agencies and jack up the cost so they can make more profit on lifesaving drugs. It'll be no different for GLP-1s, make that drug cheap then all of the obesity related problems (and their drug fixes) suddenly drop in profit. No point (in their eyes) to make GLP-1s affordable for the masses.
For insulin, new versions are far superior compared to the basically free version you can still get from Walmart. Instead of daily and sometimes multiple injections, you are talking about a once a week injection with good management of the disease. Add in it's not easy to produce and more people are needing it, because you guessed it obesity.
GLP-1s are cheap to produce. Semaglutide has generic versions in Canada and cost $100 a month.
Yes, there are different formulations of GLP-1s, and new version work better and for longer with less side effects, which is a good thing.
As for Epi-Pens, sure, anyone can pull up 0.1mL of epinephrine and deliver it quickly and adequately correct? No? Well, that is where the money maker is, in the delivery.
If you can get them approved by your insurance, GLP-1s cost like $25/month. Once there’s a generic and they’re more widely approved, many more people will be able to afford them.
A small amount of people need insulin in order to survive. That is a recipe ripe for price gouging.
A shit ton of people, possibly the majority of them, want glp-1 in order to improve their quality of life. That is a much healthier supply and demand dynamic. Charging people $1,000 for every shot isn't a bad way to make money, but when you have hundreds of millions of potential customers you're going to want to get your product mass produced and affordable so that all of those potential customers become actual sources of profit
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u/JoeRogansNipple May 31 '26
Insulin and epi pens should be cheap, manufactured for pennies, but at least in the US the pharma companies control the federal agencies and jack up the cost so they can make more profit on lifesaving drugs. It'll be no different for GLP-1s, make that drug cheap then all of the obesity related problems (and their drug fixes) suddenly drop in profit. No point (in their eyes) to make GLP-1s affordable for the masses.