March 22, 2024 — A profound shift in the understanding of medicines that help with excessive or abnormal fat is underway. A few years ago, everybody thought of these in only one frame of reference – weight loss drugs. But that is changing now. Discourse about them is moving from weight loss to obesity treatment and even further, to […]
March 22, 2024 — This is a striking change. Until now, the steadfast refusal of CMS to allow coverage of any obesity medicine by Medicare has been unwavering. Then two weeks ago, FDA granted a new indication for semaglutide for persons with both heart disease and obesity to prevent heart attacks, strokes, and deaths. Now CMS says it’s A-OK […]
March 18, 2024 — Hear that rumble? Nope, it not the latest SpaceX launch. It is the roar of growing demand for obesity care in the U.S. Two pieces of news in the last week remind us of how steep the upward line of growth in obesity treatment is right now. To help it scale up their reach to […]
March 13, 2024 — The drug development pipeline is filling up with new new drugs for weight loss or obesity. On Thursday, Novo Nordisk caused the hearts of investors to flutter when it presented topline results on an oral medicine that might be more effective than semaglutide. The value of the company’s stock jumped by 13%. Just a week […]
March 7, 2024 — Obesity Care Week this year comes at a time when we have shiny new tools for treating obesity that are garnering a whole lot of attention. One would have be living under a rock not to have heard all the buzz about semaglutide, tirzepatide, and a host of other medicines coming soon for obesity. But […]
March 1, 2024 — In a new cohort study, it is plain to see that, even before the advent of new GLP-1 medicines for obesity, primary care patients could get better health from obesity care. But health systems hindering delivery of obesity care make this exceedingly unlikely for most people living this disease. A Large Cohort Study from an […]
February 24, 2024 — This sounds like a godsend. “Weight loss jabs could be a more effective and cheaper treatment for drug addiction than rehab, a study suggests.” So says the Telegraph of London. The “weight loss jabs” they’re talking about are liraglutide 3 mg daily injections, also known by the brand name of Saxenda. Sad to say, they […]
February 9, 2024 — Are patent thickets boosting the prices of obesity medicine prices and putting these important medical advances out of reach for everyone but the wealthy and well insured? A new paper in JAMA this week suggests this is true – at least in part. Rasha Alhiary and colleagues explain: “Manufacturers have secured long periods of market […]
February 6, 2024 — We learned recently that questions about the need for ongoing dosing with obesity medicines raise discomforting thoughts. After all, obesity is a chronic disease, so we can’t dispute the need for continued daily or weekly doses with obesity medicines. Or can we? Amgen seems to think we can. Monthly Dosing? Induction and Maintenance? With a […]
January 31, 2024 — Obesity is the most prevalent chronic disease in America, so you might think that prescriptions for obesity medicines are relatively common – but only if you are unfamiliar with prevailing attitudes about these medicines. Because in fact, even in a large health system known for excellent care in cardiometabolic health, these prescriptions are rather rare. […]
