September 17, 2025 • 7 mins
In this eye-opening episode, Dr. Lindsey Elmore exposes the chaos unfolding in the UK as Mounjaro (weight loss/diabetes medication) prices skyrocket 170% overnight—jumping from £92 to £330 per month. Discover how Eli Lilly's "European price matching" triggered panic buying, crashed pharmacy websites, and left patients spending over £1,000 to stockpile medications. Lindsey examines the real-world impact, even in the U.S.: supply shortages, hoarding behaviors, and the unfair advantage given to those who can afford to bulk-buy versus patients with genuine medical needs. A must-listen for understanding how arbitrary pharmaceutical pricing decisions affect real people's access to life-sustaining medications.
Main Topic Introduction
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Main Topic Introduction
- 00:00-00:30: Discussion focuses on Mounjaro (weight loss/diabetes medication) pricing crisis in the UK
- 00:37-01:13: Massive 170% price increase starting September 1st, 2025
- Current price: £92/month
- New price: £330/month (up from planned £122/month)
- 01:25-01:41: Eli Lilly justifies increase as "adjusting prices to match the rest of Europe"
- 00:37 & 01:41-02:01: UK's largest online pharmacy "Pharmacy2U" freezes prices, then stops sales entirely
- 02:09-02:34: Patients stockpiling medications before price hikes
- 02:22: Pharmacies offering 3, 6, or 9-month bundles
- 02:44-02:59: Real examples: patients buying 7-8 pens, spending over £1,000 in panic purchases
- 04:35: Pharmacy websites crashing from demand
- 02:59-03:24: Hoarding strains supply chains and prevents access for patients who truly need the medication
- 03:24-03:44: Medical experts urge against hoarding injectable medications at home
- 03:51-04:12: Access and fairness concerns - distinguishing between medical necessity vs. cosmetic use
- 05:37-05:57: Drug prices change "for no reason at all" with no patient input
- 06:08-06:27: Need to prioritize patients who medically need medications over those who can afford to stockpile
- 04:59-05:27: Work with legislators through existing Inflation Reduction Act framework
- 06:27-06:55: Legislative action needed to control "absurd" arbitrary drug pricing, especially for life-sustaining medications
- 07:06-07:14: Show closing: encouraging wise health decisions
Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/the-lindsey-elmore-show--5952903/support.
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Welcome everybody to this week's edition of Lindsay Elmore Show.
Super excited to talk to you about one of my
favorite topics, drug pricing.
Speaker 2 (00:09):
I know you love it too. Everybody does.
Speaker 1 (00:11):
It's like a topic everybody says, it's a dinner conversation.
Speaker 2 (00:14):
Everybody wants it. So there's a big story in.
Speaker 1 (00:18):
Weight loss medications in the UK and I know that
that I am a US kind of in based podcast.
But they're Bunjaro, which many of you know is one
of the most talked about weight loss drugs and it's
also used for diabetes. And the big problem is happening
is that prices are going way up.
Speaker 2 (00:39):
Starting September first, twenty twenty five.
Speaker 1 (00:43):
The UK's biggest online pharmacy, Pharmacy to You, just announced
that it will freeze prices for now. But people are
buying in panic in response to what's happening because the
prices are going up, and the prices are just like
going up. They're going up one hundred and seventy percent.
(01:05):
It's a major, major price hike. It's going from you know,
ninety two right now, the price is about ninety two
pounds a month to one hundred and twenty two pounds
a month, and it's going up.
Speaker 2 (01:17):
For like one three hundred and thirty pounds a month.
Speaker 1 (01:20):
The problem with this is that patients have no say
in the pricing of meds, and price hikes like this
can just happen.
Speaker 2 (01:31):
They just happen.
Speaker 1 (01:32):
And drug companies Eli Lilly is the drug company that's
that we're talking about, who has control over Monjare says
that they're just adjusting their prices to match the rest
of Europe.
Speaker 2 (01:46):
Awesome, awesome friends, and so.
Speaker 1 (01:51):
Like I said, pharmacy to you is freezing prices, and
so you if you thought you were going to get
your drugs for them, not only are you not paying
an new higher price, you're not paying any price at all.
And things get messy when then when drug prices changed
like this, because people start to panic buy. And so
(02:14):
when the news about the price hikes like came out,
people started stockpiling Monjarro, which I have problems with is
just being able to stockpile medications. But pharmacies sometimes even
offered bundles so you could go and get three, six
or nine months worth of your medications. And people were
(02:39):
buying before the price hikes because the price is going
up so much.
Speaker 2 (02:44):
And people were admitting when they were leaving.
Speaker 1 (02:47):
Pharmacy saying, you know, I bought like seven or eight
pens sometimes from multiple pharmacies, just going around buying meds.
One person said that they spent over one thousand pounds
panic buying, and that is not good for patients because
it causes anxiety. But also it really puts a strain
(03:09):
on supply chain because supply chains all of a sudden
don't know how much to produce, and it means that
some people who actually really need this medication may not
be able to get it because somebody who was like,
you know what, I'm gonna buy ten of them went
to the pharmacy and bought ten of them. And so
(03:30):
pharmacists and doctors are urging people not to hoard medications.
It's not safe to keep huge amounts of injectable medications
at home. And you know, the experts say go to
your doctor every month before before getting your meds. But
if you've if you've got stable diabetes, you're not going
(03:51):
plus to be honest, you're not doing that.
Speaker 2 (03:54):
You know.
Speaker 1 (03:54):
But when we're talking about manjarro, the problem is about
access and fairness, you know, demand for these drugs is exploding,
and whenever prices were eyes people get scared, and the
panic buying can hurt everyone, especially patients who really rely
on their medicine for their health versus the people that
(04:18):
just take it for weight loss or for cosmetic reasons whatever.
Speaker 2 (04:24):
So you know, we we have pharmacies.
Speaker 1 (04:26):
That are really working to help to help control the
the pricing problems that are going on. Other pharmacies actually
had their website crash from the demands to get Manjarro
and so there's bigger there's a there's a bigger problem
(04:48):
of people having this panic buying and also pharmacies not
being able to support people just purchasing medications.
Speaker 2 (04:55):
So you know, when prices change, you know, we we
we don't want to panic.
Speaker 1 (05:01):
We really want to work with our legislators to regulate
our medications through the Inflation Reduction Act, and so we
really want to be working through that because that is
going to be the way that we can actually strategically
move it through the system in a way that is
(05:21):
already in place. And so because it's already in place,
it's a lot easier to get things moving. And so
so I sum it up in the UK at least,
But this is a problem in the United States, which
is why I made this episode.
Speaker 2 (05:39):
But drug prices just change all the time.
Speaker 1 (05:42):
They just change for no reason at all, and patients
are worried and people are stockpiling them, and major pharmacies
sometimes have to freeze their sales because they're like, we
don't know what to.
Speaker 2 (05:57):
Do, and it's really very complicated.
Speaker 1 (06:01):
This is a complicated balance between pharmaceutical companies pricing and
patient access to medications, and so we really want to
be sure that patients who read the medications are getting
the medications instead of the people who can afford to
just go cash by ten, twelve, twenty different medications.
Speaker 2 (06:22):
We want to be sure that people who.
Speaker 1 (06:25):
Can need it are really getting it, and that's really important.
Speaker 2 (06:29):
The other thing is we have to work.
Speaker 1 (06:32):
With our legislators to get control over drum pricing in
the United States. It is absolutely absurd that anybody could
come in and just say, you know what, patients all
across the United States, We're going to just change drum prices,
especially on drums.
Speaker 2 (06:48):
That are life sustaining.
Speaker 1 (06:52):
That is where things get really complicated, and we want
to be sure that we're giving people fair pricing to
meds and not just randomly upgrading medication pricing. So that's
all for this episode of The Lindsay Elmore Show.
Speaker 2 (07:10):
Thanks for listening, and as always, take
Speaker 1 (07:13):
Care of yourself and make your health decisions wisely.
Welcome everybody to this week's edition of Lindsay Elmore Show.
Super excited to talk to you about one of my
favorite topics, drug pricing.
Speaker 2 (00:09):
I know you love it too. Everybody does.
Speaker 1 (00:11):
It's like a topic everybody says, it's a dinner conversation.
Speaker 2 (00:14):
Everybody wants it. So there's a big story in.
Speaker 1 (00:18):
Weight loss medications in the UK and I know that
that I am a US kind of in based podcast.
But they're Bunjaro, which many of you know is one
of the most talked about weight loss drugs and it's
also used for diabetes. And the big problem is happening
is that prices are going way up.
Speaker 2 (00:39):
Starting September first, twenty twenty five.
Speaker 1 (00:43):
The UK's biggest online pharmacy, Pharmacy to You, just announced
that it will freeze prices for now. But people are
buying in panic in response to what's happening because the
prices are going up, and the prices are just like
going up. They're going up one hundred and seventy percent.
(01:05):
It's a major, major price hike. It's going from you know,
ninety two right now, the price is about ninety two
pounds a month to one hundred and twenty two pounds
a month, and it's going up.
Speaker 2 (01:17):
For like one three hundred and thirty pounds a month.
Speaker 1 (01:20):
The problem with this is that patients have no say
in the pricing of meds, and price hikes like this
can just happen.
Speaker 2 (01:31):
They just happen.
Speaker 1 (01:32):
And drug companies Eli Lilly is the drug company that's
that we're talking about, who has control over Monjare says
that they're just adjusting their prices to match the rest
of Europe.
Speaker 2 (01:46):
Awesome, awesome friends, and so.
Speaker 1 (01:51):
Like I said, pharmacy to you is freezing prices, and
so you if you thought you were going to get
your drugs for them, not only are you not paying
an new higher price, you're not paying any price at all.
And things get messy when then when drug prices changed
like this, because people start to panic buy. And so
(02:14):
when the news about the price hikes like came out,
people started stockpiling Monjarro, which I have problems with is
just being able to stockpile medications. But pharmacies sometimes even
offered bundles so you could go and get three, six
or nine months worth of your medications. And people were
(02:39):
buying before the price hikes because the price is going
up so much.
Speaker 2 (02:44):
And people were admitting when they were leaving.
Speaker 1 (02:47):
Pharmacy saying, you know, I bought like seven or eight
pens sometimes from multiple pharmacies, just going around buying meds.
One person said that they spent over one thousand pounds
panic buying, and that is not good for patients because
it causes anxiety. But also it really puts a strain
(03:09):
on supply chain because supply chains all of a sudden
don't know how much to produce, and it means that
some people who actually really need this medication may not
be able to get it because somebody who was like,
you know what, I'm gonna buy ten of them went
to the pharmacy and bought ten of them. And so
(03:30):
pharmacists and doctors are urging people not to hoard medications.
It's not safe to keep huge amounts of injectable medications
at home. And you know, the experts say go to
your doctor every month before before getting your meds. But
if you've if you've got stable diabetes, you're not going
(03:51):
plus to be honest, you're not doing that.
Speaker 2 (03:54):
You know.
Speaker 1 (03:54):
But when we're talking about manjarro, the problem is about
access and fairness, you know, demand for these drugs is exploding,
and whenever prices were eyes people get scared, and the
panic buying can hurt everyone, especially patients who really rely
on their medicine for their health versus the people that
(04:18):
just take it for weight loss or for cosmetic reasons whatever.
Speaker 2 (04:24):
So you know, we we have pharmacies.
Speaker 1 (04:26):
That are really working to help to help control the
the pricing problems that are going on. Other pharmacies actually
had their website crash from the demands to get Manjarro
and so there's bigger there's a there's a bigger problem
(04:48):
of people having this panic buying and also pharmacies not
being able to support people just purchasing medications.
Speaker 2 (04:55):
So you know, when prices change, you know, we we
we don't want to panic.
Speaker 1 (05:01):
We really want to work with our legislators to regulate
our medications through the Inflation Reduction Act, and so we
really want to be working through that because that is
going to be the way that we can actually strategically
move it through the system in a way that is
(05:21):
already in place. And so because it's already in place,
it's a lot easier to get things moving. And so
so I sum it up in the UK at least,
But this is a problem in the United States, which
is why I made this episode.
Speaker 2 (05:39):
But drug prices just change all the time.
Speaker 1 (05:42):
They just change for no reason at all, and patients
are worried and people are stockpiling them, and major pharmacies
sometimes have to freeze their sales because they're like, we
don't know what to.
Speaker 2 (05:57):
Do, and it's really very complicated.
Speaker 1 (06:01):
This is a complicated balance between pharmaceutical companies pricing and
patient access to medications, and so we really want to
be sure that patients who read the medications are getting
the medications instead of the people who can afford to
just go cash by ten, twelve, twenty different medications.
Speaker 2 (06:22):
We want to be sure that people who.
Speaker 1 (06:25):
Can need it are really getting it, and that's really important.
Speaker 2 (06:29):
The other thing is we have to work.
Speaker 1 (06:32):
With our legislators to get control over drum pricing in
the United States. It is absolutely absurd that anybody could
come in and just say, you know what, patients all
across the United States, We're going to just change drum prices,
especially on drums.
Speaker 2 (06:48):
That are life sustaining.
Speaker 1 (06:52):
That is where things get really complicated, and we want
to be sure that we're giving people fair pricing to
meds and not just randomly upgrading medication pricing. So that's
all for this episode of The Lindsay Elmore Show.
Speaker 2 (07:10):
Thanks for listening, and as always, take
Speaker 1 (07:13):
Care of yourself and make your health decisions wisely.
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