Supply problems and insurance issues make popular weight-loss drugs hard to get
Supply problems and insurance complications have made it difficult for many patients to start and stay on new prescription medications used to treat obesity
When she prescribes the popular weight-loss drug Wegovy, Dr. Angela Fitch sends patients on a quest she likens to “The Hunger Games."
They will have to call drugstores over several days to find one with the properly sized first dose. Then they'll do that again for their second dose, and probably the third. And that’s only if the patient has insurance or the means to afford a drug that can cost more than $1,300 a month.
“This is not for the weak-willed,” said Fitch, who is president of the Obesity Medicine Association and also consults for drugmakers.
Supply problems and insurance complications have made it difficult for people to start — and stay on — Wegovy and similar medications that are transforming obesity treatment, according to doctors and patients around the country. They say getting the high-demand, injectable drugs requires persistence and a fair amount of luck.
