January 21, 2024 — Seriously, it is not a problem if people living with obesity value their appearance. Do we really have to say this? Apparently we do. Because all too often we see a subtle bias in discourse about obesity that adds up to disrespecting people who want to look and feel their best. Physician and writer Matthew […]
January 18, 2024 — E.B. White is long gone from this life and Block That Metaphor! is dormant at The New Yorker. But we need them back. The Washington Post has a new and twisted metaphor about obesity treatment, casting Ozempic as something like orthodontia. Kate Cohen writes: “I always thought I’d be thin if I were rich. “I’d […]
January 17, 2024 — Over the past year, as the world has embraced GLP-1 medicines like semaglutide for obesity, we have heard much speculation about dire prospects for the future of metabolic surgery. Stock prices dropped earlier this year for medical device companies with big investments in bariatric surgery when Intuitive Surgical announced they were seeing a slowdown in […]
January 16, 2024 — If you wonder why the Obesity Action Coalition, Obesity Medicine Association, and the Obesity Society all warn against using compounded versions of GLP-1 medicines for obesity, consider the boom and bust story of ACA Pharmacy in Nashville, Tennessee. After semaglutide went into shortage in 2022, it began doing a booming business with a compounded version […]
January 11, 2024 — Clicks rule the internet and much of social media, so rudeness is rather easy to find, but hard to take. Reporting that brings insight and understanding is more rare and more rewarding. On obesity yesterday, we found a sharp contrast between promoting insight and promoting contempt. From the Shorenstein Center on Media, Politics and Public […]
January 9, 2024 — Unfortunately, we are facing the new year with a great demand for advanced new obesity medicines and an inadequate supply. On the FDA drug shortages website, all strengths of the Wegovy brand, except 2.4 mg, have limited availability. Both Wegovy and Ozempic are “currently in shortage.” This opens the door for compounded semaglutide and a […]
January 7, 2024 — We are living is a time of concern about mistrust, misinformation, and polarization. Edelman has been warning us for years now about deepening distrust that promotes misinformation because people do not know what to believe. It promotes polarization because they come to trust only people with beliefs similar to their own. As we confront misinformation, healthy […]
January 6, 2024 — We are hearing a cacophony lately – lots of noise about food noise. Part of what we hear is a celebration. Some people are finding blessed relief from it when they take advanced medicines for obesity like semaglutide or tirzepatide. Others see a threat in the relief that those people are finding. They deny that […]
January 5, 2024 — Eli Lilly and Company has taken the unusual step of starting a direct to consumer clinical care and pharmacy program for obesity, diabetes, and migraine. If you have any doubt that LillyDirect will shake up the landscape for access to obesity care, just ask the folks at WeightWatchers. Their stock dropped by 11% yesterday when […]
January 4, 2024 — It is beginning to seem like an anachronism. January has long marked the beginning of “diet season.” Weight Watchers, Nutrisystem, Jenny Craig, Atkins, and many other businesses depend on this annual weight loss ritual to rack up their biggest sales of the year. Diet resolutions typically stick for only a few months, though. Some time […]
