"President Trump directed us to stop at nothing to lower health care costs for the American people," said Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., in a press release. "As we work to Make America Healthy Again, we will use every tool at our disposal to deliver affordable health care to seniors."
Novo Nordisk's closely-watched Alzheimer's trials of an older oral version of its semaglutide drug failed to help slow the progression of the brain-wasting disease, the firm said on Monday, a blow to the obesity drug giant that sent its shares sliding. The trials, which Novo had previously called a "lottery ticket" to underline its highly uncertain outcome, were testing whether the medicine could slow cognitive decline in patients.
There's plenty of encouraging news for people taking GLP-1 drugs like Ozempic to lose weight and reduce the risk of diabetes: countless people who have lost weight while using it and seen other health benefits as a result. But along with the good news come some bleaker aspects, with some people taking these drugs and reporting feelings of nausea as a result.
The idea that "Thin is in" arose with the Twiggy era in the 1960s. It was about this time that the saying, "You can never be too rich or too thin," became popular and was repeated by celebrities such as the Duchess of Windsor, Joan Rivers, and Truman Capote. Author Stephen King added on a few words, "You can never be too thin or too rich. And if you don't believe it, you were never really fat or really poor."
I'm not going to change until the science changes, and the science does not look like it's changing. It's getting stronger and stronger every day. What we recommend is that mothers, pregnant mothers, talk to their physicians. The mothers of small kids talk to their physicians, and we've advised the physicians to reduce the thresholds and to reduce the amount of Tylenol that they give to children as much as possible, and only use it when it's absolutely critical.
The GLP-1 drug market has surged dramatically in the past four years, driven by soaring demand for weight-loss treatments that also tackle related conditions like diabetes and heart disease. Valued at over $100 billion today, the sector is projected to exceed $150 billion by 2030 as more patients seek effective therapies. Viking Therapeutics ( NASDAQ:VKTX ) is carving out a strong position with its dual GLP-1/GIP agonist VK2735, which showed up to 15% weight loss in Phase 2 trials.
This accusation is predicated on I-MAK's assertion that these companies own large numbers of patents covering their respective products. But, as the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) noted in its recent Drug Patent and Exclusivity Study, 'simply quantifying raw numbers of patents and exclusivities is an imprecise way to measure the intellectual property landscape of a drug product because not every patent or exclusivity has the same scope.'
At the end of August, tennis star Serena Williams advertised a new weight-loss drug. The slogan, in Williams's voice, was: They say GLP-1a drug that mimics a hormone that regulates blood sugar, appetite, and slows digestionis a shortcut to weight loss, but it's not. It's science. Interestingly, Serena Williams's husband is an investor and member of the board of Ro, the healthcare company that offers it.
What struck me was the feeling of not being hungry, he tells the Guardian. I still wanted to eat, but I didn't feel that drive. It made me think this is going to kill the restaurant industry, because if people aren't eating as much, restaurants won't be as enticing. I'm not sure what will happen to supermarkets either. I don't think this change is bad for health.
