February 8, 2025 — A telehealth business has a slick, defiant commercial for their compounded weight loss medication ready to run during the Super Bowl tomorrow. More than a few doctors are definitely not amused. They are not the only ones. Two senators have written to the acting head of the FDA to say that caution and fair balance […]
February 7, 2025 — Novo Nordisk and Lilly reported on their business results this week for the final quarter of 2024. These reports brought clarity on a number of points, but to us, one thing stands out. We are moving from euphoria and hype about limitless possibilities in obesity to the realities of market competition and incremental progress. Sales […]
December 5, 2024 — Bragging rights. Yesterday, Lilly claimed them for its obesity medicine, the Zepbound brand of tirzepatide. The company announced topline results from a head-to-head trial of tirzepatide vs semaglutide for weight loss in persons with obesity or overweight and at least one obesity-related complication. It should be no surprise that tirzepatide won this narrowly-defined contest. In […]
April 19, 2024 — Perhaps it was inevitable. Last week, the Times plunged into stereotypes about obesity care and gender, asking “Is the era of ‘Brozempic’ upon us?” The spark for the story comes from the efforts of telehealth businesses trying to crack the code for reaching men with concerns about obesity. It can be awkward. The cultural baggage […]
February 16, 2024 — Influencers are not doctors. They can’t understand the science issues with obesity drugs. That’s not what they do. With expressive skill, a leading influencer in the fat acceptance movement put her finger on an important issue in the Washington Post this week. On this, we totally agree. If we listen to many social media influencers, […]
November 20, 2023 — FDA has a bone to pick with Otsuka, the company that sells Rexulti (brexpiprazole). The agency is taking issue with false advertising by the company for this drug used in schizophrenia and severe depression. To us, this problem of inflated efficacy claims is especially noteworthy because, for people with obesity who may need this drug, […]
April 26, 2023 — Insights surface when we take the time to listen to people living with obesity. Yesterday, Ro and the Obesity Action Coalition released results from a study of the thoughts and feelings people are having about obesity, weight loss, and the new GLP-1 medicines. There’s a lot to think about in these results – about motivations […]
January 14, 2023 — What exactly is a healthy lifestyle? If you dig into a certain corner of public health research, you are likely to come up with healthy patterns of eating, physical activity, sleep, and stress management as the answer. But Natalia Mehlman Petrzela, author of Fit Nation, has a different answer for you. Fitness culture defines a […]
June 1, 2022 — When “health plans” tell someone seeking treatment for obesity it’s a vanity thing, we are not fooled. They simply don’t want to pay the bill. Health plan? Not really. It’s a lot like car insurance. It pays for a wreck. Not so much for preventing one. Writing in the New York Times today, Gina Kolata […]
March 15, 2022 — The pandemic isn’t done with us yet. Cases are rising a bit in Europe and it’s anyone’s guess where this is heading. But certainly, it appears that many of us are done with the pandemic. Does this mean the boom in meal kits will fade? Will it turn out that they were just a pandemic […]
