https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9746-8758
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Disclosure statement
No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.
Notes
1 While Novo Nordisk’s Ozempic™ has garnered the largest share of media attention to date, the category of new weight-loss drugs also includes Mounjaro™ (Eli Lily), Trulicity™ (Eli Lily), Rybelsus™ (Novo Nordisk), Wegovy™ (Novo Nordisk), and Saxenda™ (Novo Nordisk). Most of these drugs were originally developed to manage Type 2 diabetes, but their ability to induce weight loss through appetite suppression has been an interesting, and largely unexpected, co-benefit and they are now regularly prescribed on an “off-label” basis for this purpose.
2 Some forecasts for the United States estimate that over the next ten years uptake of these drugs could reach 7 percent of the population, or 24 million people (Peck Citation2023).
3 It merits drawing attention as well to the unprecedented profits that Novo Nordisk has recently begun to realize. The company has a market capitalization that exceeds the gross domestic product (GDP) of Denmark, its home base, and Danish economic authorities have had to make statistical adjustments to account for the distortionary effects that the company’s vast earnings are having on the country as a whole (Foroohar Citation2023; Nelson Citation2023).