August 9, 2024 — This week has given us a study in contrasts. The leading makers of obesity medicines, Lilly and Novo Nordisk, posted quarterly reports and received sharply different responses. When Novo Nordisk released their report on Wednesday, the market value of the stock plunged by eight percent. The next day, Lilly reported results and saw its market […]
August 5, 2024 — Should we celebrate the news that, in FDA drug shortage listings, all forms of tirzepatide (Mounjaro and Zepbound) are listed as “available”? Is this a sign that we are on our way to the nightmarishly short supply of GLP1s will soon be behind us? Forgive us for being skeptical, but we’re not quite ready to […]
April 30, 2024 — Last week, the U.S. Senate launched an investigation into the high price of semaglutide, sold as Ozempic and Wegovy by Novo Nordisk. Yes, pressure on GLP-1 pricing is building and you can be confident there’s more to come. Senator Bernie Sanders chairs the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions, which is undertaking this […]
April 2, 2024 — We were hopeful. Shortly after launch, it seemed like Lilly was keeping up with the demand for Zepbound – the tirzepatide brand they’re selling for obesity. But it turns out that the overwhelming need for effective obesity medicine is outstripping the supply that both Eli Lilly and Novo Nordisk can offer. Lilly told reporters on […]
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 […]
February 7, 2024 — Let’s be clear from the start. Hype about “weight loss” drugs is exquisitely unhelpful. This is because weight loss is only an acute effect of new medicines that act on GLP-1 receptors and related pathways that influence obesity. The real need for these medicines is to control a whole range of chronic health problems that […]
December 13, 2023 — “The long run is a misleading guide to current affairs. In the long run we are all dead,“ wrote John Maynard Keynes. But Keynes was obviously not a doctor. So his words don’t hold much sway over people who have questions about obesity medicines with impressive short-term results. But for those people, a new study […]
December 11, 2023 — “Prediction is difficult, especially if it’s about the future.” Niels Bohr and Yogi Berra both get credit for this pithy bit of wisdom, but the truth is that the proverbial expression has a Danish origin and an unknown author. So now that wit and wisdom emboldens us to look back at the trends we thought […]
November 13, 2023 — Nestled in the midst of a lot of good news last week was a nasty reminder of a persistent problem. It’s the fake line that people persist in drawing between obesity and other metabolic disease. Lilly did it (with consent from FDA) when they decided to put a different brand name on tirzepatide for obesity. […]
November 3, 2023 — Novo Nordisk and Eli Lilly updated their investors yesterday on their performance through the third quarter of 2023 and the word is that they are “raking in cash” from their new medicines that work so well in obesity. Gobs of money seem to be flowing to both companies, but the stories they were telling about […]
