November 29, 2023 — It is time to translate words into action and fix the blind spot in drug trials and labeling for people with obesity. Every major obesity group in the U.S. issued this united call to action on Tuesday. This includes the ASMBS, Obesity Action Coalition, Obesity Medicine, Obesity Society, and STOP Obesity Alliance. It comes as […]
October 30, 2023 — It leaves our heads spinning. Normal healthcare systems cannot keep up with the demand for a breakthrough in obesity treatment. The company, Novo Nordisk, which developed semaglutide for obesity treatment, has invested billions and now is reaping many billions of dollars in sales. But despite more than a decade of preparation, they can’t keep up. […]
August 6, 2023 — On Friday, the Kaiser Family Foundation (KFF) released remarkably detailed results from a survey of public awareness and beliefs about new obesity medicines. It offers much for us to think about. But at the very top line it puts some solid numbers on a basic fact about the public response to breakthrough medicines for obesity. […]
July 7, 2023 — It’s a fact. People come in all shapes and sizes. FDA and pharmaceutical researchers know this. They know that body size and composition can have large effects on how a person responds to drugs. So why do we have such a troubling gap of body size diversity in clinical trials? In the AMA Journal of […]
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 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 […]
May 9, 2023 — With all the sensational reporting about semaglutide and tirzepatide for obesity – often with the emphasis on weight loss – you might think a revolution is underway. Yes, it is coming. But the truth is that it hasn’t even started yet. At present, for a number of reasons, we are barely scratching the surface of […]
April 12, 2023 — Two innovations in health systems and health policy – PBMs and biosimilars – are supposed to save us money on drugs. But so far, it looks like the joke is on us. PBMs (pharmacy benefit managers) can actually drive prices higher. Their stated purpose is just the opposite – to drive drug costs down. Adding […]
November 20, 2022 — Fed up. That’s where we are with stories about how people taking semaglutide for obesity are keeping people with diabetes from getting an adequate supply of the drug they need. Fed up, because it’s a stealthy way of expressing implicit bias against people living with obesity. The subtext is that those people don’t really need […]
November 7, 2022 — There’s a clue in the strained supply of new obesity and diabetes meds that most everyone is missing. For more than a year now, Novo Nordisk has been unable to produce and distribute an adequate supply of semaglutide in the form of Wegovy for the treatment of obesity. This has knock-on effects. So supply of […]
