AT A GLANCE
- Coca-Cola CEO and chairman James Quincey said ‘…the company is currently seeing minimal impact from drugs like Ozempic and Wegovy…’, as per Eleanor Pringle at Fortune.
- The Austrian Federal Office for Safety in Health Care and the country’s criminal intelligence service reported ‘…Several people were hospitalized with life-threatening seizures and low blood sugar after taking counterfeit versions of the diabetes drug Ozempic.’
- First graders with obesity, aged as young as six years old, are being studied by Novo Nordisk and Eli Lilly ‘…on pediatric clinical trials for their new class of injectable GLP-1 medications.’
- Damian Garde at STAT asks ‘Does Pfizer have a future in obesity?’
- Guggenheim Partners, a global investment and advisory financial services firm recently made a case for there being a $150 billion to $200 billion opportunity for anti-obesity drug sales, from Christina Cheddar Berk at CNBC.
- Ippolito and Levy publish in American Enterprise Institute Economic Perspectives on the cost of new treatments for diabetes and obesity, estimating that ‘…net prices received by drugmakers are 48–78 percent lower than list prices.’
NEWS
- Reuters reports that the ‘…European Medicines Agency (EMA) on Friday said its safety panel did not find a causal link between popular GLP-1 drugs such as Novo Nordisk’s Ozempic and thyroid cancer after a months-long review.’
- However, ‘…manufacturers of these drugs should continue to monitor safety events closely and report any new data to the regulator…’ in addition to the flagging of ‘…three cases of patients thinking about suicide or self-harm after using Novo’s medications.’
- Coca-Cola CEO and chairman James Quincey said ‘…the company is currently seeing minimal impact from drugs like Ozempic and Wegovy…’, as per Eleanor Pringle at Fortune.
- Quincey adds that his company has ‘…been on a journey for those people who want to consume less calories, to provide zero calorie drinks, to have innovation, to take down the calories in other drinks, and to have smaller package sizes.’
- This view is ‘…echoed by PepsiCo CEO Ramon Laguarta, who told investors earlier this month that the impact of the drugs on sales of its soft drinks was currently negligible.’
- Food product companies such as ‘…KitKat and Smarties maker Nestle, for example, has begun working on a range of companion products for weight loss drugs…’ from CEO Mark Schneider last week.
- The Austrian Federal Office for Safety in Health Care and the country’s criminal intelligence service reported ‘…Several people were hospitalized with life-threatening seizures and low blood sugar after taking counterfeit versions of the diabetes drug Ozempic.’
- The statement said ‘…the fake pens appear to have been dosed with insulin, instead of semaglutide, the active ingredient in Ozempic.’
- In the current shortage of supplies of Ozempic and Wegovy, patients are turning to compounding pharmacies, with fake Ozempic pens ‘…popping up among wholesalers in both the European Union and UK.’
- First graders with obesity, aged as young as six years old, are being studied by Novo Nordisk and Eli Lilly ‘…on pediatric clinical trials for their new class of injectable GLP-1 medications.’
- The SCALE KIDS Research Study has focused upon liraglutide, an older GLP-1 drug, for 96 weeks, on kids aged 6 and below, sponsored by Novo Nordisk.
- The study plans to enroll 78 participants, and shall report out in 2027.
- ‘Healthcare companies who profit from treating obese and overweight patients are trying to convince investors that powerful new weight-loss drugs won’t shrink their businesses…’ from David Gaffen and Manas Mishra at Reuters.
- Kenneth Stein, Boston Scientific’s global chief medical officer, told investors ‘…the effect on the company’s heart devices would be very limited.’
- Johnson & Johnson said ‘…third-quarter medical device sales fell short of analyst estimates due to a slowdown in devices used in bariatric surgeries.’
- Myriam Curet, chief medical officer at Intuitive Surgical expects ‘…many of them [patients with obesity] will not stay on the drug for longer than a year or two, and at that time, will consider bariatric surgery…’ with an overall ‘…increased interest in bariatric surgery, but that will get delayed in the short term.’
- Fat, as well as muscle and bone, is reduced with treatment on GLP-1 medications.
- Madison Muller at Bloomberg notes Eli Lilly ‘…will run a trial with BioAge Labs, whose experimental drug azelaprag has shown early promise in preventing muscle atrophy in older adults who’ve been on bed rest.’
- The drug ‘…mimics the action of apelin, a hormone produced during exercise that enhances metabolism and muscle function, but decreases with age.’
- Ania Jastreboff, director of the Yale Obesity Research Center adds ‘…Muscle-mass preservation is becoming a hot new area in obesity medicine.’
OPINION
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- Damian Garde at STAT asks ‘Does Pfizer have a future in obesity?’
- Danuglipron, a twice-daily pill that targets GLP-1, is undergoing Phase 2 study testing to reduce body weight for patients diagnosed with obesity.
- Indeed, danuglipron ‘…will need to stack up to a promising oral GLP-1 therapy from Eli Lilly if Pfizer hopes to have a future in the fast-growing field.’
- Timothy Springer, Harvard medical professor, entrepreneur, and co-founder of Cambridge, MA biotech Scholar Rock, ‘…announced this month that it’s developing an experimental drug that could be used in combination with existing treatments to allow patients to continue building muscle as they lose weight.’
- Jay Backstrom, chief executive of Scholar Rock, has a goal ‘…to optimize weight loss by preserving and increasing lean muscle…’ with plans to begin clinical trials in 2025.
- Another local company, Fractyl Health, a Lexington biotech that has raised $300 million from big-time backers like General Catalyst and Bessemer Venture Partners, with an initial approach to an endoscopic intervention for patients with diabetes recently shifted its focus to ‘…testing in pigs and mice a GLP-1-based therapy that modifies patients’ genes to control their appetite.’
- ‘Medications may not work as well on people with obesity, studies suggest, because, although people with a lot of body fat metabolize drugs differently…’ in reporting from Karen Weintraub at USA Today.
- For example ‘…people taking regular medication for birth control, or to combat high cholesterol, depression or panic disorders might be getting the wrong amount of needed medication.’
- Dr. Caroline Apovian at the Center for Weight Management and Wellness at Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston says ‘….The dosing and the pharmacokinetics all have to do with when and how much enters the bloodstream and it’s in the bloodstream that the drugs have their effects.’
- Dr. William Dietz at the STOP Obesity Alliance at George Washington University in Washington, D.C. wants ‘…every doctor who treats a patient with obesity to know if the drug they are prescribing is potentially affected by that patient’s body weight.’
- Dr. Gina Anderson, CEO of Luma Brighter Learning writes in Inc. that a simple, magical pill is not the solution, with a focus on ‘…tailored learning programs to help end the obesity epidemic.’
- Mindful eating, keeping track of triggers, and engaging in stress reduction techniques are suggested, which in my mind should be partnered with nutrition, exercise, medication and surgical therapies as necessary.
- Guggenheim Partners, a global investment and advisory financial services firm recently made a case for there being a $150 billion to $200 billion opportunity for anti-obesity drug sales, from Christina Cheddar Berk at CNBC.
- Guggenheim analyst Seamus Fernandez’s believes ‘…that GLP-1-based incretins will become the most prescribed drugs ever by or before 2031.’
- Chris Shibutani at Goldman Sachs believes ‘…in 2030, we estimate that ~15M adults in the US will be treated with AOM [anti-obesity medication] for chronic weight management (excluding patients treated for type 2 diabetes), which represents ~13% penetration into the U.S. adult population.’
- Unsurprisingly, ‘…Eli Lilly shares have gained nearly 60%, while Novo Nordisk has climbed more than 40%.’
- Damian Garde at STAT asks ‘Does Pfizer have a future in obesity?’
DATA
- Ippolito and Levy publish in American Enterprise Institute Economic Perspectives on the cost of new treatments for diabetes and obesity, estimating that ‘…net prices received by drugmakers are 48–78 percent lower than list prices.’
- Taking manufacturer list price data for Ozempic, Rybelsus, Wegovy and Mounjaro, information about coupons from the manufacturers, and the SSR Health US Brand Rx Net Price Tool to define ‘…average payment the manufacturer receives after all price concessions, including rebates and coupons.’
- The analysis reveals ‘…Ozempic and Rybelsus have similar average discounts, ranging between 64 and 69 percent…’ with Wegovy at 50%, and Mounjaro at 79%.
- As with any approach to prices for branded drugs products in the US, ‘…information on list prices alone is not sufficient to characterize the price for these products.’
- Gina Kolata at The New York Times reports ‘…drugs’ list prices are generally very different from the net prices…’ in reference to the paper from AEI.
- Jalpa Doshi, professor of medicine and director of the economics evaluation unit at the University of Pennsylvania was quoted ‘…My prediction is that as competition increases, prices will decrease accordingly.’
- Amitabh Chandra, a health care economist at Harvard University said ‘…I was shocked by the extent of the rebates.’
- Whilst the lower prices may make GLP-1 drugs more cost-effective, from a health equity perspective Katherine Baicker, a health economist, provost at the University of Chicago and an Eli Lilly board member adds ‘…that cheaper health insurance includes co-pays and deductibles that often render Wegovy out of reach. Patients with low-premium plans offered through the Affordable Care Act would similarly be priced out.’
- Dr. Chandra, similarly argues ‘…that it is imperative for access to the drugs to be increased, even if that imposes a cost to society. The purpose of health insurance is not to save money, he said, but to improve the quality of life, happiness and self-esteem.’ I second that for sure.
