May 12, 2023 — Don’t look at me! That’s basically how it went at a U.S. Senate hearing Wednesday. Top executives from PBMs (pharmacy benefit managers) and the three pharma companies selling insulin testified to suggest they’re doing everything they possibly can to keep drug prices low. PBMs point the finger at pharma. Pharma executives return the favor. Lilly […]
December 29, 2022 — Very quietly, just before Christmas, FDA approved a major step forward for treating obesity in teens. The agency issued an approval for Wegovy brand of semaglutide to treat obesity in teens. There was no press release at FDA, none on the corporate website for Novo Nordisk. As late as yesterday, the news of this approval […]
December 10, 2022 — In a perverse way, there might be some good news in the current frothy coverage about new medicines for obesity and diabetes. We are a bit fed up with nonsense about who “deserves” access to care with drugs like semaglutide. But it does serve to highlight some of the usually hidden biases about treating obesity. […]
August 4, 2022 — Sometimes the hardest news to digest is no news. This was certainly the case yesterday for Novo Nordisk, the market leader in anti-obesity medicines. Their stock dropped by nearly 13 percent when the company told investors that there would be no news on the semaglutide SELECT study. So why was no news seemingly such big […]
May 14, 2022 — Yesterday, FDA approved tirzepatide for type 2 diabetes, calling it “an important advance.” The brand name will be Mounjaro. This is the same drug for which its maker, Eli Lilly and Company, announced remarkable results in a phase 3 obesity study barely two weeks ago. It is the first of its kind – a dual […]
May 12, 2022 — Somehow this doesn’t seem right. The list price for for a month’s supply of semaglutide when it’s for diabetes is $892. No matter whether you need a dose of 1 mg, or the new high dose of 2 mg, the price is the same. It goes under the brand name of Ozempic and comes from […]
December 18, 2021 — Novo Nordisk has a problem. Yesterday its stock lost 16 billion dollars from its value. This is because the company is hitting some bumps in its journey through the uncharted territory of obesity care. For more than a decade now, Novo has been investing in a genuine effort to meet a need for better obesity […]
October 20, 2021 — Day by day, the prospects for treating obesity are getting better. Late on Monday, detailed results from the longest study yet of tirzepatide came out in Lancet. This was a study using this new drug in people with type 2 diabetes, but the average BMI of these patients was 33. None of them had a […]
October 8, 2021 — With great gifts come great responsibilities. It doesn’t really matter whether you get this message from biblical sources or Spiderman. The imperative is there. If you have a big platform, you better use it to serve a purpose bigger than yourself. It looks like Queen Latifah and Novo Nordisk might be using their platforms to […]
June 5, 2021 — Experts labeled it as a gamechanger months ago. So it is certainly good news to see semaglutide approved by FDA, now with a brand name, Wegovy. With good reason, people see this new drug as something that can bring radical progress to treating obesity. On average, it’s more effective than other drugs for obesity. Compared […]
