Patients who want a deeper discount on obesity medicines than pharmacy pharmacies can offer, turn to the gray market where they buy an unprocessed active ingredient from China and prepare themselves.
Juan Summers, Master:
Patients demand that you get medications for obesity, such as Wegovy and Zepbound, but even when manufacturers are discounted, their high prices can get rid of them. So some patients do what they call gray. Sydney Lupkin from NPR studied this phenomenon for the episode of the planet Money, and she has this report.
Sydney Lupkin, Byline: When Phil began to take Overpik in 2022, he was amazed at how well it worked. His blood work looked better. He was no longer a pre -Aibet. He lost weight. The Ovorpik is approved for the treatment of type 2 diabetes, but sometimes prescribed for weight loss. But he says, perhaps, the best part was that this also reassured his addiction.
Phil: Literally, Bourbon in my freezer sat in my freezer, I would probably say, maybe before Christmas or something like that. And I – how, I took one drink, and I was how you are doing?
Lupkin: In the past, he had problems with painkillers and alcohol. We do not use his last name or location, because he could lose his work. However, when Fila’s medical insurance has changed, she will no longer cover his Overpik. Thus, instead of an additional payment of $ 25, Phil should have paid more than a thousand dollars a month.
Phil: No matter how grateful that they developed it – you know, I am very grateful for this – but I think that it is disgusting that they make this drug, and – it changes life, and then many people cannot afford it.
Lupkin: Therefore, he began to look for other options on the Internet. He found complex versions of drugs. They were not approved by the FDA, but were allowed, while obesity medicines were not enough over the past couple of years. And he found something else – the gray market. He showed me this summer.
Phil: This is that he came.
Lupkin: Oh, just like …
Phil: O.
Lupkin: … box. It looks like a contact size …
Phil: Yes.
Lupkin: … Box for lenses.
Phil: Yes.
Lupkin: In his hands, Phil holds Tyrzepatide for 10 months, an active ingredient in Zepbound, a cure for obesity made by Eli Lilly. A small box is covered by a combination of Chinese and English words.
Phil: multi -effective, young skin.
Lupkin: What?
Phil: Yes.
Lupkin: So he is disguised?
Phil: Yes. This is disguised.
Lupkin: Inside the box there are 10 small bottles with large red hats. Each of them contains 30 milligrams of white powder. He makes his own medicine, mixing it with sterile water, and then introduces himself. Two years later, Phil says that he had no problems, but there are huge risks, including contaminated or fake products. This, according to Dr. Scott Isaacs, president of the American Association of Clinical Endocrinology.
Scott Isaac: They can get an infection. They may have a reaction. They can have serious side effects from dosing errors. They can also lack the effect. And this is probably the biggest thing that I saw when patients take them, this is that he does nothing.
Lupkin: Nevertheless, he says that he can empathize with patients who feel that they have no other choice.
Isaac: The bottom line is that they are actually just trying to get the medicine they need.
Lupkin: He says that this is the key to communicating with your doctor who can convince insurance in any case to cover the drug. Dr. Tony Cyrilo is the president of the American college of emergency doctors. He says that the doctors of ER saw patients with complications from leaving the gray market or composite medicines for obesity, but they do not always say that.
Tony Cyrilo: Listen, we, especially in the emergency department, we care about many people who have done many things who may have not been their most proud moment. It doesn't matter to us.
Lupkin: He says that they are here to take care of patients, and a complete story is a lot of help.
Cirillo: Thus, these are not benign medicines without proper monitoring and supervision.
Lupkin: Cyril says, do not hesitate to go to ER if you think you have an emergency.
Sydney Lupkin, NPR News.
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