Weight-loss drugs and insulin cost far less to manufacture than companies charge
The Excerpt
USA TODAY
4.4 • 1.2K Ratings
🗓️ 30 March 2024
⏱️ 14 minutes
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Summary
USA TODAY Health Reporter Karen Weintraub looks at a new study revealing weight loss drugs cost less than $25 to make.
Colleges told the Education Department they don't have enough time to process FAFSA information. Two-thirds of colleges and universities polled in an American Council on Education survey said they don’t believe they’ll be able to successfully process student financial aid data in the next few weeks.
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USA TODAY National Network Print Planner Sammy Gibbons tells the stories of four transgender athletes, amid growing hostility toward gender diverse people. Watch their stories here.
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| 0:00.0 | Wunderry Plus subscribers can listen to USA Today's the excerpt ad free right now. |
| 0:05.0 | Join Wunderry Plus in the Wundery app. |
| 0:08.0 | Good morning, I'm Taylor Wilson and today is Saturday March 30th, 2024. This is the excerpt. Today, why do weight loss drugs cost so much? Plus a look at the latest headaches to |
| 0:28.8 | this year's FAFSA rollout and we hear about several groundbreaking transgender athletes ahead of tomorrow's |
| 0:34.9 | Trans Day of Visibility. |
| 0:38.0 | Why do we pay so much for weight loss drugs? |
| 0:40.6 | A new study from Yale University has some startling findings. |
| 0:44.0 | I spoke with USA Today, Health reporter Karen Wintrop, to learn more. |
| 0:48.0 | Hello. |
| 0:49.0 | So Karen, this new wave of weight loss drugs, while I'm sure exciting for many can be really |
| 0:54.0 | really expensive how much do these drugs cost to purchase and what are we |
| 0:58.8 | learning about how much they actually cost to make so they cost anywhere from about a thousand dollars to |
| 1:04.2 | thirteen hundred dollars if you're paying out of pocket. Obviously it can be a very |
| 1:08.2 | different situation. If you have really good insurance you might be paying little, but the out-of-pocket cost is astronomical. |
| 1:15.6 | In terms of the cost to manufacture, what this study does is kind of pull back the curtain. |
| 1:20.0 | Typically, these manufacturing costs are proprietary. |
| 1:23.3 | The companies hold these numbers very close to the vest, |
| 1:25.8 | but this Yale researcher has figured out more or less |
| 1:28.7 | how much they cost. |
| 1:29.8 | And she estimates that they are no more than about $22 a month to make. |
| 1:34.2 | So again, we're paying $1,300 list price for these drugs |
| 1:38.9 | and they cost about $22 to make. |
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