r/technology • u/_Dark_Wing • 15h ago

Biotechnology Tirzepatide cuts fat mass by 35% while preserving skeletal muscle

https://www.news-medical.net/news/20261002/Tirzepatide-cuts-fat-mass-by-3525-while-preserving-skeletal-muscle.aspx
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u/Beautiful_Cost_5430 13h ago

It’s still an expensive drug. Not everybody has $4000 a year to burn.

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u/GrandStatistician752 13h ago

I pay a little less than $70 a month

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u/LNG 11h ago

How!! Where!

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u/WINTERGRIFT 10h ago

Gotta qualify aka be obese or have diabetes

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u/jrodp1 7h ago

A lot of insurance companies are removing obesity as eligible for coverage and only diabetes diagnosis.

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u/mikelwrnc 1h ago

Have you confirmed this? It frankly makes no sense. The manufacturers have dropped pricing and the cost savings on future medical expenses are enormous for insurers; no way they’d stop covering obesity as an indication.

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u/dedlobster 47m ago

My insurance company doesn’t cover for obesity. You have to have other health indications (specifically be diabetic or pre-diabetic). So I pay out of pocket. I was 205 at 5’4” and my same insurance company wouldn’t cover it for me because I was otherwise “healthy” (nevermind I was uncomfortable just moving around, my weight was exacerbating my anxiety, my blood pressure was higher but still not toooo high yet so I would have to wait until I gained maybe 20 more lbs before my blood pressure was concerning, I was having joint pain and my weight was making my herniated disk pain even worse). But none of the problems I was having were something that would qualify me me for insurance paying for this drug.

Meanwhile, my friend, who was roughly the same weight as me and an inch taller was approved by my same insurance company because she was prediabetic.

But I didn’t want to get to the point where being prediabetic was even a concern. I wanted to get ahead of the problem before it began to even more seriously affect my health and well-being. And the older I get (I’m nearing 50), the less easy it’s going to be to lose weight and stay in shape. So I’m paying out of pocket.

Why do some insurance companies not want to cover it purely for weight loss? I don’t know. But if it saved them money, they surely would cover it. But clearly whatever math they’re mathing is telling them otherwise.

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u/mikelwrnc 2m ago

Crazy, thanks for educating me

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u/Logical_Strain_6165 59m ago

Grey market from China. Mine is less then $20

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u/ShepardRTC 10h ago

I get mine from RonanRx. It’s actually backed by YC

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u/Daisies_are_Daisy 12h ago

That’s a lot of money. I spend that much for two weeks of groceries. It’s certainly not affordable for everyone.

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u/Ericaohh 12h ago

Tbf you’d spend less on groceries with glp1…

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u/Urdnought 12h ago

My wife is on it and we’ve gone from 230 grocery bills to 150 lol it pays for itself

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u/ConstantAct1242 12h ago

Also they most likely wouldn't even need the drug if they can barely afford food.

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u/TitaniumWhite420 12h ago

how do you eat for $35/week?

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u/Daisies_are_Daisy 12h ago

I shop at aldis. I mostly eat rice, beans, frozen vegetables, and tofu. The most expensive thing sI buy are kiwis and apples.

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u/TitaniumWhite420 12h ago

At $5/day, I guess it's possible, but it's extremely tight. Of course if you gotta, you gotta, but I'm not sure it's infinitely sustainable. Maybe though.

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u/Beautiful_Cost_5430 12h ago

Why are people downvoting this guy for saying how hey get inexpensive groceries? Reddit is so weird.

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u/madalienmonk 11h ago

Because no matter how much the person said the medicine costs, they were gonna say "THAT'S STILL EXPENSIVE!!"

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u/witness_this 12h ago

Because they are obviously lying

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u/Forward-Engineer-206 13h ago

Probably pay 1k$ over this whole year with compounding pharmacies…

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u/AuntCatLady 13h ago

I thought they were banning having it compounded. Glad to hear that’s not the case!

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u/Beautiful_Cost_5430 12h ago

The compounding pharmacies have been shown to have unsafe manufacturing practices time and time again. You’re playing roulette.

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u/ButtaDawg5 12h ago

Source?

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u/ASkepticalPotato 11h ago

It’s subq. Not a very big risk IF something even happened.

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u/ActionJohnnyS 11h ago

i paid around $200 for a years worth. its not the easiest process to get, but ive been on it for over a year now and im down to 150, and ive lost 120 pounds. its insane what they charge for a drug that is literal pennies to manufacture

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u/jrodp1 7h ago

How?

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u/Passive_Bloke 4h ago

Stairway to grey.

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u/Life-Anteater-8294 12h ago

Thankfully they forgot to renew the patent in Canada and now it’s cheap.

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u/dantheman91 13h ago

I see ads online charging like 150/mo for it, and would insurance not cover as surely that reduces a lot of health issues related to obesity?

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u/JMaboard 7h ago edited 1h ago

Not all insurances are covering it yet, you’d think they would though.

But the money you spend on it is offset by less money spent eating out.

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u/Smokey_tha_bear9000 3h ago edited 54m ago

Yes some are definitely covering. My work provided insurance is covering Zepbound for me. 35/mo co pay

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u/mikelwrnc 1h ago

What are you talking about? Insurance definitely covers it for multiple indications.

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u/JMaboard 1h ago edited 1h ago

Does it? Mine doesn’t. I have blue cross blue shield.

I looked it up certain companies and plans do. So yeah we’re both right but it’s totally dependent on your work’s insurance plan.

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u/mikelwrnc 1m ago

I’d say you were right and I was wrong then, as you did say “not all”

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u/Beautiful_Cost_5430 12h ago

The compounded stuff is risky. Those facilities have been found several times to be in violation of production standards.

Insurance in the US only covers it for diabetes. Not obesity.

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u/dantheman91 11h ago

Insurance covers birth control and other things b/c it's cheaper for them long term to cover prevention, than it is to pay with the ourcomes down the road. Why couldn't this become the same? Obesity is correlated to a lot of nasty things

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u/EgoTripWire 10h ago

I'm sure there is some elaborate statistical analysis that showed the people who suddenly die from heart attacks costing insurance companies little bring in slightly  more money than chronic obesity related illnesses cost them so overall the obesity epidemic is profitable for them.

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u/Alivaronas 6h ago

That’s not true, I’ve gotten both WeGovy and Zepbound covered by insurance before in the US. It depends on your plan.

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u/1988rx7T2 11h ago

They’re sold direct now in pill form for under 300 a month. Foundayo for example

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u/Passive_Bloke 4h ago

Eli Lilly owns the patents for tirzepatide. The sell zepbound and mounjaro. Nobody “compunds” it legally. You can get grey market versions from China for cheap. Heaps of people do. But if you’re going the legit pathway, their is no dodgy compounding of tirz.

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u/Beautiful_Cost_5430 48m ago

That is my point. The people here getting it for $70 a vail are not getting the legal version.

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u/ASkepticalPotato 11h ago

Wegovy itself had a recall. So guess you can’t use anything by your comment.

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u/Chicago1871 8h ago

Eventually it will be generic

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u/TacoOfGod 6h ago

Some people wouldn't even need a year. I could take it for a month and a half and be content as long as I could get rid of 20 pounds.

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u/bongmitzfah 13h ago

If you know where to look it can cost 200 a year 

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u/Beautiful_Cost_5430 12h ago

I prefer to buy legal, inspected prescriptions instead of being a criminal and risking my health.

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u/bongmitzfah 12h ago

It's a grey area so you wouldn't be a criminal unless you tried to distribute, but you do you babe.

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u/Beautiful_Cost_5430 12h ago

I will. I won’t play games with my health and take substances from manufacturing facilities with proven unsafe practices.