Lilly sells Zepbound DTC

Taking a cue from compounding pharma, Eli Lilly is going to offer Zepbound direct to cash patients. It won’t be in the fancy injectors, but in standard vials with plain ol’ needles … and at a deep discount: $399 for a month of the 2.5 mg dose and $549 for a month of the 5 mg.

The decision is likely because Lilly can’t supply those injectors right now (hence the shortage), so this way they can cut into the compounding marketplace. So much for “lower prices will kill innovation.”

Side note 1: Lilly raised the cash price of its Zepbound pens from $550 to $650.

Side note 2: Like Taylor Swift tickets, Zepbound is technically “available,” but officially still in shortage — good luck actually getting it.

Pfizer says “I’m in, too!”

Pfizer is launching its own direct-to-consumer platform called PfizerForAll. It has coupons for Pfizer meds and then uses online pharmacy Alto Pharmacy to fulfill orders.

Need a prescriber? No problem — telehealth company UpScriptHealth is part of the deal. Need a consultation to help you make decisions? Not sure how to use your meds properly? Will that Pfizer drug interact with your other prescriptions? Having a side effect? Well … good luck with that.

TechU is back!

Are you ready for 2024’s biggest event for Georgia pharmacy technicians?

Mark your calendar for Saturday, October 19 — it’s a day of socializing, networking, and learning — developed by pharmacy techs for pharmacy techs.

One low price* gets you breakfast, lunch, 4 hours of CE, a professional headshot, and the networking event at the 57th Fighter Group restaurant in Atlanta!

Click here for the details!

* Just $40 for GPhA members, $65 for non-members

Glucose automation

OTC CGM goes on sale

Back in March we told you that the FDA has approved Dexcom’s Stelo — the first OTC continuous glucose monitor. Now the Stelo is available at stelo.com “for adults 18 years and older who are not taking any insulin therapies.”

Dexcom has pitched the Stelo as a more “health-focused” version of its top-of-the-line CGM, the G7, which made its debut early last year. Though built on the same sensor platform, the Stelo will operate without the low blood sugar alerts or software features needed by people with Type 1 diabetes.

Automate the insulin

The FDA has approved Insulet’s Omnipod 5 automated insulin delivery system for people with type 2 diabetes. (It has previously been approved for people with type 1.)

[A] wearable, tubeless product provides up to three days of nonstop insulin delivery without the need to handle a needle. The Omnipod 5 integrates with a continuous glucose monitor to manage blood sugar with no multiple daily injections, zero fingersticks and can be controlled by a compatible smartphone or by a controller.

Captain Obvious has enough to worry about

“Knowing you have a brain aneurysm may raise anxiety risk”

Breaking pancreatic cancer’s ‘wall’

Old idea: Most cases of pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC) don’t trigger an immune response, making immunotherapy ineffective.

New news: Scientists at Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory found that PDAC does trigger a response, but there’s no point as the immune cells can’t actually get inside the tumors to do any good. (Science: The tumor has a “defensive wall” made of two proteins—CXCR4 and CXCL12.)

Breakthrough (literally): Using folinic acid causes the body to produce more type-I interferons. Those interferons then …

“…acted like trail markers, highlighting a way past PDAC’s defenses. Cancer-killing immune cells that had been kept outside the wall were able to slip into the tumor and start fighting back.

Now knowing about that defensive wall (and how to break it), they hope to develop therapies to take advantage of it.

Here, something else to worry about

Bird flu, monkeypox, sloth fever, election stress … not enough for ya? How about human cases of eastern equine encephalitis? It’s about 30% fatal, and there’s no vaccine and no treatment. So far it’s just in the Northeast, but how long will that last?

It’s bad enough that, even with pollinator populations crashing, Massachusetts is doing mass spraying of insecticide. Yikes.