Weekly Health Digest: Wegovy Discounts, Science Protests, Mystery Disease

Weight Loss Drug Will Be Offered for $499 a Month for Some Patients

By Rebecca Robbins, The New York Times

Novo Nordisk, the manufacturer of the popular weight loss drug Wegovy, recently announced plans to decrease the cost of Wegovy. The new cost for patients who pay out of pocket is projected to be $499 per month, a $150 monthly decrease. Novo Nordisk will offer the popular GLP-1 medication through an online pharmacy platform and mail the prescription to eligible patients.

This discount is only available to individuals who are either uninsured or insured commercially through plans that do not cover the medication. The tens of millions of Americans insured through federally subsidized healthcare plans such as Medicare and Medicaid are not eligible for the price reduction. 

This decrease in price for Wegovy mirrors a similar move by pharmaceutical company Eli Lilly, the manufacturer of rival GLP-1 medication Zepbound. Both companies’ decisions have the potential to promote greater use of the medication among individuals who were previously unable to afford it. 

This announcement from Novo Nordisk comes just weeks after the FDA ordered compounding pharmacies to decrease operations by April or May. This further incentivizes individuals who were previously buying less expensive, compounded versions of the medication to purchase Wegovy directly from Novo Nordisk, allowing the pharmaceutical company to take greater control of the distribution of their products.

— by Harleigh Markowitz

Science, Politics and Anxiety Mix at Rally Under Lincoln Memorial

By Alan Burdick, The New York Times

Recently, Dr. Francis Collins, former director of the NIH and one-time leader of the Human Genome Project, stood on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial to bring attention to the recent funding cuts by the Trump Administration. He and tens of thousands of scientists stood in protest for Stand Up for Science, surrounded by signs ranging from “Fund Science, Defund DOGE” to “Make America Think Again” and even “I Can’t Believe I’m Marching for Facts”. The gathering included notable figures such as Bill Nye “The Science Guy”, Republican representatives such as Fred Upton, and several doctoral students who have dedicated their lives to curing diseases like multiple sclerosis. 

Protest organizer Colette Delawalla, a psychology graduate student at Emory University, noted how this is just the start of the movement. Outside Washington, several Stand Up for Science Rallies occurred across the country and around the world. Among the potestors, however, fear of backlash from the current administration persists, with many attendees refusing to speak or share their names. The future of scientific research in the United States remains uncertain.

— by Manju Karthikeyan

A Lethal Mystery Illness Spread in Congo. USAID Cuts Have Slowed the Response

By Kate Knibbs, WIRED

An unidentified illness with Ebola-like symptoms has killed over 60 people in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC). The disease has spread to more than a thousand people, mirroring the spread of the current Ebola outbreak in Uganda, a country that borders DRC. 

The cuts in the US Agency for International Development (USAID) by Elon Musk’s DOGE have left laboratories at the Uganda-DRC border empty. As such, the investigations leading up to the identification of the pathogen and ways to curb the spread of the outbreak have been stalled. Moreover, existing agencies in DRC-Uganda are struggling to fill the gaps without the presence of USAID.

Experts see a few potential theories behind the cause of the unknown illness. It could be a mass poisoning incident through contaminated water or a malaria infection with respiratory symptoms, similar to an outbreak that happened in the DRC last year. Scientists see the latter theory as a cause for concern: if this outbreak is a severe form of malaria infection, there could be about 15 million new cases of malaria and 100,000 additional deaths. 

The lifesaving work performed by USAID is irreplaceable for countries such as the DRC and Uganda that suffer from several serious outbreaks. At the same time, the involvement of USAID helps to contain the pathogens in countries of origin, in turn preventing their transmission to the U.S. 

– by Ananya Dash

Items summarized by: Harleigh Markowitz, Manju Karthikeyan, Ananya Dash