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 […]
January 5, 2024 — Eli Lilly and Company has taken the unusual step of starting a direct to consumer clinical care and pharmacy program for obesity, diabetes, and migraine. If you have any doubt that LillyDirect will shake up the landscape for access to obesity care, just ask the folks at WeightWatchers. Their stock dropped by 11% yesterday when […]
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 […]
December 6, 2023 — The Zepbound brand of tirzepatide is now available in U.S. pharmacies. This is a big deal because this launch marks the emergence of serious competition for advanced obesity medicines. Even (or perhaps especially) in healthcare, money indeed makes the world go around and one of the best checks on greed is competition. So as Zepbound […]
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. […]
