Are Discounted Versions of Weight Loss Drugs Going Away?
Many Americans have turned to compounding pharmacies to get popular weight-loss drugs due to lack of availability or expensive retail price tags. But this option will soon close for consumers.
The federal government allows compounding pharmacies to sell copies of drugs when the medications are in short supply. Yet federal regulators recently declared the blockbuster weight-loss drugs Wegovy and Zepbound are no longer in shortage. That means consumers who use telehealth companies or medical spas to get less expensive, compounded versions will need to get their medications elsewhere.
That has panicked consumers such as Amanda Bonello, a Marion, Iowa, mother of three, who worries the supply cutoff will force her to buy the brand-name version of a drug she can’t afford. She takes a compounded version of tirzepatide, Eli Lilly’s drug sold under the name Mounjaro to treat diabetes and Zepbound for weight loss. The average retail price for Zepbound is nearly $1,300, according to GoodRx, a prescription drug discount provider.
Excerpted from USA Today
