Some patients are dose splitting their GLP-1 injection pens as they struggle to pay thousands of dollars for the diabetes and weight loss medications, The Atlantic reported Aug. 15.
Type 2 diabetes drugs like Ozempic and Mounjaro, as well as weight loss medications such as Zepbound and Wegovy, can cost between $940 and $1,300 per month without insurance. Some insurers, including Medicare, don't cover weight loss drugs. For those who cannot afford the blockbuster medicines or want to mitigate side effects, they're dividing doses.
Drugmakers and physicians warn against this practice, according to The Atlantic.
"There's a lot of desperation that we're seeing in our practice, and people looking for all kinds of workarounds," Laura Davisson, MD, director of medical weight management at West Virginia University Health Sciences, told the news outlet.
Wegovy, Mounjaro and Zepbound are packaged in single-click, single-use pens. Ozempic pens are multi-click presentations, though, and Dr. Davisson and other physicians said administering fewer clicks than the recommended number is fairly safe. Novo Nordisk, the maker of Ozempic, advises patients to not adjust doses.
Read more here.