Science Magazine ‘…has named GLP-1 drugs the Breakthrough of the Year.’
Lars Fruergaard Jorgensen, CEO at Novo Nordisk, was anointed the Financial Times 2023 Person of the Year.
Michael Albert, physician and co-founder at Accomplish Health, makes a call for responsible practices in obesity medicine.
Elaine Chen and colleagues at STAT round off a terrific year of reporting on obesity care, with the quest to eradicate obesity.
NEWS
With all the pomp and ceremony of a royal coronation, Science Magazine ‘…has named GLP-1 drugs the Breakthrough of the Year.’
But, the ‘…ebullience surrounding GLP-1 agonists is tinged with uncertainty and even some foreboding…’ from its GI complications, to necessity for lifelong use.
I do love the final sentence whereby ‘…These new therapies are reshaping not only how obesity is treated, but how it’s understood—as a chronic illness with roots in biology, not a simple failure of willpower. And that may have as much impact as any drug.’
Lars Fruergaard Jorgensen, CEO at Novo Nordisk, and with a last name as unheard of as the word Ozempic or semaglutide just a year ago, was anointed the Financial Times 2023 Person of the Year.
In essence, ‘…Jorgensen is pioneering a. commercial innovation that could have a profound impact not just on healthcare, but on societies, on public finances and on our relationship with food.’
Away from financial forecasting of the monetary value of sales, and the stock price of Novo Nordisk, the CEO feels ‘…a great sense of responsibility for actually succeeding together with society.’
The Year Ozempic Ate the Newsfrom Bloomberg; booming drug sales, insurance coverages issues, pill versions, compounded medications, and WeightWatchers’ pivot from diets to drugs.
OPINION
Skyrocketing popularity of weight loss drugs in 2023, despite pricing, supply chain issues, and unpleasant side effects, may lead to a $100 billion market by the end of the decade; or more bluntly as CNBC puts it ‘…Novo Nordisk and Eli Lilly have a big year ahead of them.’
Expanded approvals, new research studies, greater insurance coverage, and a more competitive market will continue to dominate the news; with a projected $2 billion-plus of sales projected for Eli Lilly’s Zepbound in 2024.
Pfizer, with a once-a-day version of pill form danuglipron, and competitor Amgen are likely to garner greater media coverage; with additional buyouts of smaller companies – watch out for Altimunne and Structure Therapeutics.
A busy year ahead of us for sure.
Michael Albert, physician and co-founder at Accomplish Health, makes a call for responsible practices in obesity medicine.
Exploitative companies entering the obesity treatment market are ‘…driven by commerce rather than a genuine commitment to patient health…’ with ‘…quick fixes and one-size-fits-all solutions.’
Albert rightly calls to distinguish ‘…between the commoditization of weight loss and the provision of comprehensive obesity care…’ from a transaction to a holistic and multi-faceted approach.
Obesity is a serious and often lifelong chronic disease, necessitating multimodal and multidisciplinary care; I am all for convenience and technology, that must be delivered in a clinical-first, regulated and supportive manner.
Elaine Chen and colleagues at STAT round off a terrific year of reporting on obesity care, with the quest to eradicate obesity.
Jacob Petersen at Novo Nordisk is featured, on ‘…a mission to eliminate obesity altogether.’
Nadeem Sarwar, head of the transformational prevention unit at Novo researching RNA and gene therapies, wants ‘…to be known as the company that eradicated obesity, we can’t do that by just treating the disease.
We must also prevent.’ William Dietz, formerly at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention thinks ‘…we’re over-medicalizing the problem…’ and ‘…sees a need for food deserts and other environmental drivers of obesity to change, not for more expensive drugs to come onto the market.’
I have a middle ground – drug development, just like for malaria, HIV and AIDS, and even some cancers, can lead to eradication of disease – which is very exciting; but environmental interventions such as mosquito nets, safe sex practices and colonoscopy screening programs are important, and should not be forgotten in the pharma race to domination.
