November 25, 2023 — Two weeks ago, a shift started in the public messaging about semaglutide supply issues that have dogged Novo Nordisk from the very beginning of launching a version of this drug (Wegovy) for obesity. Has the catch-up game in production capacity for obesity and diabetes medicines begun at last in earnest? At the beginning of November, […]
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 9, 2023 — In an era of tremendous change for obesity care, this is certainly a huge milestone. FDA approved tirzepatide for obesity treatment yesterday and put Lilly in the position to offer serious competition to Novo Nordisk. But the question that matters most to us is simple. How will this competition help people seeking to cope with […]
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 […]
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. […]
October 24, 2023 — We have grown tired of the mindless repetition of a $1,350 monthly list price for Wegovy in endless news reports about the great expense of this very important new drug for obesity. Not because the drug isn’t expensive. But because that list price is not an accurate representation of what the drug really costs. So […]
September 29, 2023 — In case you haven’t been paying attention, FDA issued a new label warning for semaglutide that should remind everyone of a key fact – it’s not suitable for DIY weight loss. The warning went onto the label for the Ozempic brand of semaglutide. It is already there for the Wegovy brand and for the Mounjaro […]
September 7, 2023 — The Wegovy brand of semaglutide has finally come to the UK this week – albeit in limited quantities. So in the Guardian, Zoe Williams wonders if this will mean the end to blathering about obesity: “Despite this being a breakthrough, it is going to pose an immense challenge to those, in medicine and beyond, who […]
August 27, 2023 — Writing for the New York Times, Joseph Goldstein tells us that prescriptions for GLP-1 agonists are going to the wealthiest, whitest, and healthiest neighborhoods in New York City. Neighborhoods where the medical need is greatest? Not so much. Though we might hope that advanced medicines for obesity and diabetes would go to places with the […]
August 21, 2023 — How much might the application of new insights from the SELECT study of treating obesity do for preventing heart attacks, strokes, and deaths. A first pass at answering this question appeared in Cardiovascular Drugs and Therapy last week. Nathan Wong, Hridhay Karthikeyan, and Wenjun Fan estimated the potential for semaglutide treatment to lower cardiovascular disease […]
