[WillPostForFood]

pharma company seeking to maximize profits by constraining supply

They have a monopoly on the drug, what's the evidence they are constraining supply? It makes no sense, the price is set, the more they supply the more money they make.

[agsqwe]

I think what's meant here it's that the manufacturer chose to target specific patient groups (T2D) and commercial insurances to get the highest profit per dose. About 40% of adults in the US are obese, they could have made the drug available at much lower cost and get their profits from economies of scale. Instead, the production is low and the focus is narrow.

[fakedang]

It's not always the case that production is made intentionally low. There are actual limits to how much times a chemical/biochemical production process can be run in a given year. I'm actually learning this the hard way with one biotech project.

The alternative might be a $200 million dollar production facility which may not even be feasible to cater to the excess of consumers. Or which may be too excessive for the excess of consumers targeted.

[bedast]

They also probably don't want to put significant investment in boosting production knowing that will be temporary since the weight loss effects aren't permanent. As someone who has been on GLP-1 RA for a decade, starting with Victoza, and now on Mounjaro, those weight loss benefits have no effect on me anymore. Delayed gastric emptying and appetite suppression is so far reduced that it might as well not be a thing anymore. But I don't use this drug for weight loss, I take it for glycemic management, and it still works great for that. I have to do the work to continue my weight loss and maintenance.

Yeah, these drugs aren't new but the wide world is just learning about the weight loss aspect. So they don't know this is a temporary solution.

[telotortium]

Perhaps the weight loss would be more permanent with the higher doses that are being approved for the weight loss use case?

[bedast]

You might get a good few years from the drug. You have to still do the work to make the changes permanent.

[richwater]

I swear people just say things without a shred of thinking.