October 3, 2024 — Late yesterday, FDA announced that Lilly’s tirzepatide shortage is officially over. Both Mounjaro and Zepbound are fully available in all marketed strengths and dosage forms. “The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has determined the shortage of tirzepatide injection, a glucagon-like peptide 1 (GLP-1) medication, has been resolved. Tirzepatide injection has been in shortage since 2022 […]
August 27, 2024 — That was quick. At about 6 am today, we posted to say that obesity drug prices are stuck in the spotlight. “Bold leadership on obesity drug pricing and access to care is the only thing that will bring relief from this uncomfortable spotlight,” we wrote. Before the end of the hour, Lilly took the cue. […]
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 18, 2024 — Yesterday, Eli Lilly and Company announced topline results for two studies of tirzepatide in people with obesity and sleep apnea. Both in people who were using CPAP devices and in those who were not, the year-long studies yielded results that independent sleep medicine researchers described as “awesome” and “phenomenal.” Clinical scientists will present the details […]
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 28, 2024 — A new economic analysis in JAMA Network Open brings unsurprising news: manufacturing costs for GLP-1 agonists are a tiny fraction of the price for these important medicines. This is always the case for innovative prescription drugs that must recover billions of dollars of development costs in order to be profitable. The response from policy makers […]
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 […]
