March 24, 2021 — If you had any doubt about prior reports that semaglutide is likely to be a “game changer” for obesity care, perhaps you should look at JAMA today. Just one month after another paper in JAMA, semaglutide is back in the journal. This time, it is a 68-week study that shows the value of maintaining therapy […]
February 26, 2021 — “Medical care is nice, but it’s surely not the answer to obesity. Behaviors matter.” These words came to us from the audience of a webinar for a regional business group on health. Oddly enough, those words came on the same day that JAMA published yet another major study on semaglutide for treating obesity. Two weeks […]
February 22, 2021 — When NEJM recently published impressive results for a new obesity treatment, it caused quite a stir. Now it looks like semaglutide might have some serious competition coming right behind it. Late last week, Lilly announced results for two phase 3 studies of tirzepatide. These were both studies for type-2 diabetes. Effects on body weight were […]
January 26, 2021 — Innovation in obesity care has come a long way. Back in 2010, Sanofi was smarting from the spectacular failure of rimonabant and big pharma was closing down research programs in obesity. But Novo Nordisk forged ahead with an ambitious program and now has a successful portfolio in obesity care to show for it. Nonetheless, we […]
December 23, 2020 — China is going to eliminate food waste and fight obesity in a single stroke of regulation. How, you ask? Operation Empty Plate will expand into law. China will make it a crime to promote food waste, including overeating. The hilarity of naive efforts to regulate food marketing never disappoints. Stiff Fines for Bad Marketing Right […]
December 10, 2020 — News from Eli Lilly and Company suggests that we may soon see a new drug that offers two-for-one efficacy – a clinical benefit in both obesity and diabetes. The company announced yesterday that tirzepatide produced good results against endpoints for both diseases in a phase 3 RCT. In this study, called SURPASS-1, researchers tested three […]
December 7, 2020 — Friday marked an important milestone in progress toward better treatments for obesity. Novo Nordisk submitted semaglutide to FDA for approval in treating obesity. So we may see approval for this important new drug in the second half of next year. Why so important? We have two reasons. A Step Forward in Effectiveness The first reason […]
November 28, 2020 — This is the ultimate Friday news dump. FDA approved a highly innovative, highly targeted treatment for obesity – setmelanotide – Wednesday night. Just before a four-day holiday. The company announced in on Friday – timing one would typically choose for news they want to hide. But this is really good news for the treatment of […]
November 22, 2020 — This month has brought considerable progress on NASH treatments. Yet it’s hard to know when we will have real progress in medical care for this silent epidemic. Getting FDA to yes on new treatments seems to be a challenge. Nonetheless, we have news of two new studies that suggest promise for new NASH treatments. One […]
November 10, 2020 — Saxenda (liraglutide) is on the brink of becoming a billion dollar drug for obesity. Yet its effectiveness in obesity is modest. On average, a person taking it might expect that their weight would go down by about eight percent. Of course, some people will have a much bigger benefit. But others will have less or […]
