Costco Weight-Loss Program: Omission of Critical Data Puts Patients at (Financial) Risk
This week, the world learned that Costco Wholesale would start selling Novo Nordisk ' s newest, but vastly overpriced GLP-1 inhibitor medicine known generically as semaglutide (sold under the brand names Ozempic and Rybelsus for Type 2 diabetes, and under the brand name of Wegovy for weight-loss for those with obesity without Type 2 diabetes). We learned of the Costco GLP-1 initiative from a press release from Costco ' s strategic partner known as Sesamehttps://sesamecare.com/ which is the entity which will connect patients with its network of thousands of outpatient healthcare providers nationwide who are more than w...
Source: Scott's Web Log - April 3, 2024 Category: Endocrinology Tags: 2024 biosimilars Costco GLP-1 inhibitor liraglutide semaglutide Sesame Source Type: blogs
Bonus Features – January 28, 2024 – 49% of orgs likely to invest in RCM tech in the next 18 months, v2 drafts of TEFCA Common Agreement and QHIN Technical Framework out, plus 27 more stories
This article will be a weekly roundup of interesting stories, product announcements, new hires, partnerships, research studies, awards, sales, and more. Because there’s so much happening out there in healthcare IT we aren’t able to cover in our full articles, we still want to make sure you’re informed of all the latest news, announcements, and stories happening to help you better do your job.
News and Studies
The Sequoia Project released a bundle of TEFCA draft documents, including v2 drafts of the Common Agreement and QHIN Technical Framework. Interested stakeholders have until February 5 to provide feedback.
About...
Source: EMR and HIPAA - January 28, 2024 Category: Information Technology Authors: Brian Eastwood Tags: Healthcare IT Interoperability Revenue Cycle Management 1upHealth AdhereHealth Aidéo Technologies Anatomy IT Andrea Kowalski Authenticx Clearsense Don Brown eClinicalWorks Emory Healthcare Epic Research Fathom First Health A Source Type: blogs
Info On What It Costs To Make Insulin API's Offshore (Courtesy of China's Gan & Lee Pharmaceuticals Ltd.)
When pharma companies refer to API ' s, they are referring to " Active Pharmaceutical Ingredients " (which is different from what an internet company means when they say API; to internet companies, the acronym API means " Application Programming Interface " ). Regardless, pharma API ' s are commonly made offshore in places like India, Malaysia, China and elsewhere because its cheaper for them and therefore helps their own bottom lines. Its unclear to me exactly how they manage issues including transporting the products across the world for some items which must be temperature-controlled, but if it fattens pharma ' s bottom...
Source: Scott's Web Log - May 1, 2023 Category: Endocrinology Tags: 2023 Biosimilar biosimilars BLA China COGS FDA Gan & Lee insulin Sandoz Source Type: blogs
Novo Nordisk Will Sell An Unbranded Version of Tresiba in the U.S.
Sometimes communicating the right message to the right party at the right time may result in a pleasantly unexpected thing happening!During this year ' s EASD which took place in Stockholm, Sweden (a beautiful city I ' ve visited more than a few times over the years), at the end of a Live Tweet event with Novo Nordisk Live@NovoNordiskLive, I shared a few thoughts which had been bothering me about Novo Nordisk ' s commitment to its U.S. unbranded insulin strategy (I described its commitment as " half-hearted " ), and I did so by sharing several slide images which I got directly from Novo Nordisk ' s quarterly investor prese...
Source: Scott's Web Log - September 29, 2022 Category: Endocrinology Tags: authorized generic insulin analogs 2022 authorized generics Inc. Novo Nordisk Pharma unbranded insulin Source Type: blogs
Lilly Pulls the Plug on Mix-and-Inject Glugagon Rescue Kits
For those who didn ' t hear the news when it broke, diaTribe news reported (seehttps://diatribe.org/glucagon-options-expand-lilly-discontinues-emergency-kit for the news) that Lilly announced that the company intends to discontinue manufacturing its traditional Glucagon Emergency Kitshttps://www.lillyglucagon.com/ by the end of 2022. The kits are old-school, mix& inject kits that many patients (and caregivers alike) really despise because they are rather cumbersome and inconvenient to use when time is of the essence. Having an unpopular product works in the absence of competition, but when newer, more convenient produc...
Source: Scott's Web Log - August 17, 2022 Category: Endocrinology Tags: Eli Lilly and Company glucagon PBM rebates Source Type: blogs
Discerning Hope from Hype Related to Novo Nordisk Glucose-Responsive Insulin
Below is a copy of an investor report (seeHERE) on Novo Nordisk from the Wall Street investment bank known as Credit Suisse (the New York-based research business of the Swiss banking giant which mainly serves billionaire clients was formerly known as First Boston). I will discern my take-aways as it pertains to the few notes about Novo Nordisk ' s much-hyped (by the company itself) glucose-responsive insulin. There is some progress, but it is by no means a done deal.Novo Nordisk AS Feedback from London Post 3Q 2021 Management Meeting on ScribdOn November 4, 2021, Credit Suisse attended a London sell-side meeting with Novo ...
Source: Scott's Web Log - January 16, 2022 Category: Endocrinology Tags: Credit Suisse glucose responsive insulin Novo Nordisk Smart Insulin 2021 2022 SmartCells Source Type: blogs
Making Sense of the Novo Nordisk-Walmart Partnership to Sell Some Discounted Insulin Analogues
On June 29, 2021, Walmart Inc. and the American business unit of Novo Nordisk A/S (which is based just outside of Princeton, New Jersey known as Novo Nordisk Inc.) dropped what was intended to be a news bombshell coming just as the ADA Scientific Sessions was coming to a close. In fact, the insulin makers had hardly any big news coming from the ADA Scientific Sessions themselves this year (in fact, Novo Nordiskacquired a UK-based company known as Ziylo in 2018 to use its technology to try and develop glucose-responsive insulin, but it still has a long while before it is ready for commercialization ... if ever), becaus...
Source: Scott's Web Log - July 15, 2021 Category: Endocrinology Tags: Aspart Novo Nordisk Novolog Walmart Source Type: blogs
Making Sense of the Novo Nordisk-Walmart Partnership to Sell Some Discounted Insulin Analogues
On June 29, 2021, Walmart Inc. and the American business unit of Novo Nordisk A/S (which is based just outside of Princeton, New Jersey known as Novo Nordisk Inc.) dropped what was intended to be a news bombshell coming just as the ADA Scientific Sessions was coming to a close. In fact, the insulin makers had hardly any big news coming from the ADA Scientific Sessions themselves this year or for the past several years (about the biggest news was from 2018 when, Novo Nordiskacquired a UK-based company known as Ziylo to use its technology to try and develop glucose-responsive insulin, but that still has a long whil...
Source: Scott's Web Log - July 15, 2021 Category: Endocrinology Tags: Aspart Novo Nordisk Novolog Walmart Source Type: blogs
Type 2 diabetes: Which medication is best for me?
If you are living with type 2 diabetes, you certainly are not alone. One in 10 people in the US has diabetes, according to the CDC. However, despite considerable progress in diabetes treatment over the past 20 years, fewer than half of those with diabetes actually reach their target blood sugar goal.
In part, this may be because doctors can be slow to make changes to a patient’s treatment plan, even when a patient’s treatment goals are not being met. One reason for this may be the overwhelming number of medications currently available. And yet, waiting too long to adjust treatment for type 2 diabetes can have long-last...
Source: Harvard Health Blog - November 5, 2020 Category: Consumer Health News Authors: Samar Hafida, MD Tags: Diabetes Drugs and Supplements Source Type: blogs
Weight loss can help head off lasting damage caused by fatty liver
Non-alcoholic fatty liver disease is the most common cause of liver disease in the United States, and is estimated to affect up to a quarter of adults in the world. It is defined by excess fat accumulating in the liver and usually occurs in people with obesity, high blood sugars (diabetes), abnormal cholesterol or triglyceride levels, or high blood pressure. These disorders often run together and as a group are called metabolic syndrome. The “non-alcoholic” part of “non-alcoholic fatty liver disease” is important to distinguish it from alcohol-related liver disease, which can also cause excess liver fat.
How fat ca...
Source: Harvard Health Blog - April 30, 2020 Category: Consumer Health News Authors: Irun Bhan, MD Tags: Diet and Weight Loss Digestive Disorders Source Type: blogs
ZERO tolerance for hypoglycemia
As more and more type 2 diabetics discover the Wheat Belly and other low-carb lifestyles, they are also discovering how rapidly and easily blood sugars drop.
As diabetics become less diabetic–a process that can occur VERY quickly, often within 24 hours of removing all wheat/grains from their diet–but they are taking insulin or certain diabetes drugs, there is potential for hypoglycemia or low blood sugar. Low blood sugar from diabetes drugs can be dangerous and should be avoided at all costs. (Imagine if a non-diabetic started administering insulin or blood sugar-reducing drugs–it would result in life-threate...
Source: Wheat Belly Blog - December 23, 2018 Category: Cardiology Authors: Dr. Davis Tags: News & Updates blood sugar diabetes undoctored wheat belly Source Type: blogs
For type 2 diabetes patients who require an injectable drug, GLP-1-based drugs are preferred over insulin
That's a pretty big change:Diabetes Guidelines Updated: For patients with type 2 diabetes who require an injectable drug, a glucagon-like peptide 1 receptor agonist is preferred over insulin.https://buff.ly/2T0KowcGlucagon-like peptide-1 (GLP-1)-based therapies (eg, GLP-1 receptor agonists, dipeptidyl peptidase-4 [DPP-4] inhibitors) affect glucose control throughseveral mechanisms, including:- enhancement of glucose-dependent insulin secretion- slowed gastric emptying- reduction of postprandial glucagon and food intakeThese agents do not usually cause hypoglycemia.Short-acting GLP-1 receptor agonists have an effect on post...
Source: Clinical Cases and Images - Blog - December 20, 2018 Category: Universities & Medical Training Tags: Diabetes Source Type: blogs
Behavioral weight loss programs are effective — but where to find them?
The US Preventive Services Task Force (USPSTF) is a team of volunteer experts from various primary care medicine and nursing fields. They identify big medical problems, review the research, and translate it into action plans (called practice recommendations) for doctors like me.
Just this fall, they tackled obesity, with the goal of identifying effective ways we in primary care can help people to lose weight.
And it’s not about aesthetics. This is about disease prevention, especially diabetes, high blood pressure, and heart disease, which are particularly associated with obesity.
They were NOT looking at surgeries or oth...
Source: Harvard Health Blog - November 12, 2018 Category: Consumer Health News Authors: Monique Tello, MD, MPH Tags: Diet and Weight Loss Healthy Eating Source Type: blogs
Live the Wheat Belly lifestyle, get off prescription medications
Take a look at the list of medications people have been able to stop by following the Wheat Belly lifestyle.
These represent medications prescribed by doctors to, in effect, “treat” the consequences of consuming wheat and grains. They prescribe drugs to treat inflammation, swelling, skin rashes, gastrointestinal irritation, high blood sugars, airway allergy, joint pain, high blood pressure, leg edema and other abnormal effects caused by wheat and grains.
The list includes anti-inflammatory and pain medication, acid reflux drugs, injectable and oral drugs for diabetes, numerous anti-hypertensive agents, asthma i...
Source: Wheat Belly Blog - October 27, 2018 Category: Cardiology Authors: Dr. Davis Tags: News & Updates autoimmune blood sugar bowel flora cholesterol Gliadin gluten-free grain-free grains Inflammation undoctored Weight Loss wheat belly Source Type: blogs
Diabetes Drug Significantly Reverses Alzheimer's Like Memory Loss
A drug developed for diabetes could be used to treat Alzheimer ’s after scientists found it significantly reversed memory loss.ByAlzheimer's Reading RoomThe findings are significant because the drug works by protecting the brain cells attacked by Alzheimer's disease in three separate ways; rather than, by relying on a single approach.This is the first time that a triple receptor drug has been used which acts in multiple ways to protect the brain from degeneration.What is the Difference Between Alzheimer ’s and DementiaA Diabetes Drug Has 'Significantly Reversed Memory Loss' in Mice With Alzheimer'sA drug developed for ...
Source: Alzheimer's Reading Room, The - January 8, 2018 Category: Neurology Tags: alzheimer's and diabetes alzheimer's diabetes alzheimers. diabetes diet health Source Type: blogs
