Needless to say, these medications are in HIGH demand. We finally have a safe,
effective weight loss medication. When demand goes up, so does the price.
The cost of the name brand medications can run $800-1200 per month!
Yikes. These name brand medications also require you to meet very
specific criteria for a prior authorization with your insurance company. If
you’d like to see if these medications are covered through your insurance, then
we recommend contacting your primary care provider to start the process.
Another issue with the name brand weight loss medications is access. When demand
goes up, supply goes down. The name brand versions of Semaglutide are often on
back order. Patients have reported not being able to get Semaglutide for up to
8 months!
For these reasons, we obtain sSmaglutide through a very high-quality compounding
pharmacy. This means they make the medication on site at their pharmacy. Don’t
worry about safety, because compounding pharmacies are under rigid state
regulations.
As a provider, any time we prescribe a compounded medication we are then
obligated to tell you that a FDA version of the medication is available. But,
most patients are happier to more quickly receive a less expensive version of
Semaglutide.