A new era for weight-loss drugs
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A new era for weight loss drugs from Marketplace. I'm Sabri Beneshour, in for David Brancaccio. GLP-1 weight loss drug injections have slimmed many waistlines and wallets. They are not cheap. A much less expensive alternative has now been approved by U.S. regulators. Novo Nordisk has gotten the green light for an oral version of Wagovi. Pills are cheaper to manufacture than injectables, and that could be a game changer.
What are GLP-1 weight-loss drugs and their significance?
Marketplace's Novoselic Davo has more. The Food and Drug Administration's approval of a once-a-day pill form of Wegovy sets up the likelihood that it could be sold for far less than the once-a-week injectable form, which has a list price of as much as $1,000 a month. Manufacturer Novo Nordisk says the pills will be as little as $150 a month for a starter dose, though patients have to increase their dose later and higher doses could cost more. The company is promising full pricing information in early January when the pills become available in the U.S. The likelihood of a lower-cost pill could help many people who currently can't access GLP-1 medications because their insurance plans won't cover the expensive treatments for weight loss alone.
The drugs were initially intended to treat diabetes. Meanwhile, a health insurer-funded study found that employer health plans that do cover the drugs saw premiums increase by as much as 14% because of the higher costs. I'm Novosafo for Marketplace. So how's everyone feeling about the economy? Later this morning, we will get an idea when the conference board's Consumer Confidence Index comes out. The analysts who track this stuff expect people to be feeling a little better after a big drop in mood in November.
How does the new oral version of Wegovy differ from injectables?
The government shutdown was a consumer buzzkill. But as Marketplace's Amy Scott reports, there is still plenty weighing on consumers as we head into a new year. Between the high cost of living and low expectations for the job market. Consumers are feeling relatively unfavorable towards the economy. Joanne Hsu is director of the Surveys of Consumers at the University of Michigan, whose own consumer sentiment index improved slightly this month, but is down more than 28 percent from this time last year. They're feeling strain on both sides of their budgets. They remain pretty frustrated by the persistence of high prices, and they're also worried about their incomes in the year ahead. And most people surveyed expect the job market to get worse.
Erin Charis, a partner at consulting firm Bain & Company, says that's likely to affect consumer spending. We're sort of in an uncertain period for most people. And so what I suspect is that that will, particularly for discretionary purchases, continue to be a little bit of a limiter on growth. One thing that could lift the mood in the new year, he says, is the bigger tax refunds many should see from this year's Republican tax cuts, especially wealthier households.
What impact will the lower-cost Wegovy pill have on accessibility?
I'm Amy Scott for Marketplace.
When the economy is in recession, you get more people who are long term unemployed, unable to find a job for more than six months. When the economy is expanding, people do find jobs and long term unemployment comes down. At least that is how it normally works. This past year, something has been off. The economy has expanded, but we are getting more people who are long-term unemployed. 1.9 million in November, an increase of 12% from a year before. Marketplace's senior economics contributor Chris Farrell is here to talk about it. Good morning, Chris. Good morning. Do we know why the number of long-term unemployed people is rising even though the economy has been growing? So there are a couple of reasons, but let's take the long-term perspective first.
There are two economists from the Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis, and in their recent report, they note that over the past seven decades, it has taken longer for the unemployed to find jobs. And the explanation they favor relates to how people search for jobs. Specifically, the barriers to sending out a resume have fallen sharply with online applications.
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