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Permalink Reply by Joe_h on October 30, 2008 at 8:06am

sorry didn't read the articles but won't prices go down when these new drugs become generics in a couple years?

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Permalink Reply by debb on October 30, 2008 at 9:36am

yeah joe they will, but are they as or more effective then the older drugs and can we afford to pay their prices until the prices do go down? a lot of us are going back to the older drugs because we just can't afford the higher prices with the economy going haywire.

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Permalink Reply by Joe_h on October 30, 2008 at 10:02am

one problem w/ the Big D (one of many) is that what works for you doesn't always work for me. and what works for me today may not work for me tomorrow. it is quite annoying. I'm up to 3 nooo 4 perscriptions and red ginseng, red win ;) , diet and exercise to control my sugars. it is a constant game of adapting to try and keep my sugars under control but my health in the long run (i'm 37) makes it worth it. been lucky so far and a lot of my stuff is available generic and i've got decent health insurance.

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Permalink Reply by Beth on October 30, 2008 at 9:41am

I don't pay much for my drugs, I use the VA and they are very good about not charging me an arm and a leg. I have read the articles and it is terrible how the new drugs for anything are so high. I only hope that this mess with the economy gets better in the next few months, food, and other essentials are getting to be harder and harder to afford.

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Permalink Reply by Cody Turner on October 30, 2008 at 5:12pm

It is worth the money if it works for you. If an older medication works better then stay with it, if a newer one works then spend the extra money. Think about what your health is worth.

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Permalink Reply by Sohair Abdel-Rahman on October 30, 2008 at 8:56pm

I remeber a great diabetologist from Los Angles presented a nice lecture in Pan Arab conference in Cairo about diabetes,treating two zone areas,she treats the rich,and has a clinic for ordinary people who cannot afford new expensive generation.She gave doctors especially the GPs in Arab world what to prescribe,and what medications to combine together.

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Permalink Reply by tmana on October 30, 2008 at 10:54pm

These headlines are all based on the same original research/review. There are several separate issues to consider, including (1) the rise in the number of people diagnosed with diabetes or pre-diabetes (which may be related to the increasingly lower blood glucose numbers at which "Type 2 diabetes" is diagnosed); (2) changes in standards of care such that pharmaceutical therapy is started immediately in T2 patients, rather than giving them an initial trial by lifestyle management; (3) increase in the number of lab tests used to diagnose diabetes and comorbid conditions, and increase in the frequency at which those tests are conducted; (4) new classes of diabetes-related pharmaceuticals, and higher costs of production for the newer drugs; (5) increased emphasis on self-monitoring and on tight control, including the increased use of insulin pumps over MDI and the introduction of CGMs into the diabetes-care arena. This is not an exhaustive list.

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