July 3, 2024 — Nope, says Dr. Alissa Chen. Medicare shouldn’t start covering obesity medicines. Her dad, 72, has obesity that began when he was in grad school and has persisted throughout his life. Now he has the cardiovascular disease that often results from untreated obesity. But no, she doesn’t want him to receive treatment with advanced medicines proven […]
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 […]
December 28, 2023 — This was a year of great progress in obesity, and with that progress came frustrations and angst. So finding the best and worst of 2023 in obesity and health is actually quite an easy and interesting task. Let’s dig right in. #1 Best: Cardiovascular Outcomes Benefit Data for Semaglutide Above all else the landmark findings […]
November 15, 2023 — A trip into the world of pharmacy benefit managers (PBMs) is enough to make our heads spin. It leads us to wonder: exactly who benefits from pharmacy benefit managers? The answer is not clear, but it seems obvious that patients in need of affordable medicine do not. In Search of a Fair Deal The biggest […]
October 16, 2023 — Forgive us a bit of skepticism please. We are facing a jarring disconnect at ObesityWeek from the reality of medical care that simply can’t keep up with stunning progress in obesity science. Scientists and obesity medicine experts are promising us a tantalizing future for obesity care while the present circumstances facing real people living with […]
July 1, 2023 — The news arrived in our inbox yesterday. Drug shortages that have plagued semaglutide and tirzepatide are growing worse, not fading. Novo Nordisk quietly let the word out: those supply shortages are no longer limited to Ozempic and Wegovy. Saxenda is entering a prolonged period of shortage. So it now appears that constrained supply, high prices, […]
May 4, 2023 — How can we possibly afford paying for all of the innovation that’s coming in obesity care? This is hardly an academic question. It’s a practical one that flickers in the minds of policymakers who balk at finding ways to make effective treatment for obesity more accessible to the people with great medical needs for it. […]
