If we want to support people with obesity, the weight loss debate must stop conflating obesity prevention with obesity treatment. Instead, we should focus on the tools that best solve the needs of people where they are – just as we would for cancer or diabetes – by making the most effective treatments possible available.

Novo Nordisk is expanding its cardiometabolic drug pipeline with the acquisition of Embark Biotech, a startup developing drugs for a novel target that can suppress appetite and boost calorie burning in cells. Embark’s science comes University of Copenhagen research on a novel fat cell target.

A new KFF analysis compared list prices for Ozempic, Wegovy, Rybelsus and Mounjaro. It found that the U.S. has much higher list prices for these drugs than other peer countries while also having the highest rate of obesity.

Novo Nordisk isn’t putting all of its weight loss drug hopes in the same basket. Its acquisition of Inversago Pharma for up to $1 billion will bring a biotech whose lead drug candidate has early clinical trial data showing significant weight loss.

Novo Nordisk weight-loss drug Wegovy reduced the risk of major cardiovascular events by 20% in a large clinical trial. The company said the results support expanding the drug’s label, but the looming question is whether the data will persuade payers to cover the pricey chronic therapy.

Allurion Technologies has commercialized a gastric balloon in the form of a pill that patients swallow. But the weight loss platform from the now NYSE-listed company also includes AI-driven software that provides insights about a patient’s progress, technology with the potential for use alongside obesity drugs.

Hello Alpha launched Ahead with Alpha, a weight management program for employers. It offers access to primary care providers trained in obesity care, medication management through weight loss drugs like GLP-1s, nutrition counseling with a registered dietitian and progress tracking. 

The Treat and Reduce Obesity Act would expand Medicare coverage for obesity screenings, treatments and therapies like anti-obesity medications. The Health Equity Coalition for Chronic Disease came out in favor of the bill and asked for swift passage.

Alfie Health’s $2.1 million seed funding was led by Y Combinator and Nina Capital. It included participation from Goodwater Capital, Phoenix Investment Club and several angel investors.

While the attention GLP-1s are receiving is exciting for medical professionals like me who’ve specialized in obesity treatment for decades, with little fanfare, the ‘miracle drug’ message is misleading and harmful.

Medicare is failing its beneficiaries by not treating obesity as a disease. Just like people with high blood pressure often need to take medications to avoid disease-related complications, people with obesity need access to all appropriate, evidence-based therapies to combat the disease.

Omada’s new program provides coaching, peer support and educational materials to patients struggling with chronic obesity and taking GLP-1s. The company chose not to prescribe the weight loss drugs itself.

Found for Business is an evidence-based obesity care program that prescribes 13 different medications (including GLP-1s) in 60 different combinations. It combines the medication with support from providers, coaching and an app that offers meal and activity tracking. 

Employers should be looking at obesity as a chronic condition and focus on weight management solutions over weight loss solutions, said Parin Chikani, medical account director for managed markets at Novo Nordisk. He made these comments Tuesday at the Midwest Business Group on Health conference in Chicago.

With obesity, diabetes, and heart disease rapidly growing among communities of color, we need to do everything we can to help people sustain healthy eating habits. It’ll take more nuance than a Westernized one-size-fits-all diet.

Competition to claim a market that could be worth $100 billion a year for drugmakers alone has triggered a wave of advertising that has provoked the concern of regulators and doctors worldwide.

Paul Markovich believes in the value of health tech in managing both chronic diseases and in general health and wellness. In this episode, he talks about the company’s Wellvolution platform and the digital tools that are offered there to members, now even to those on Medicaid.

Despite challenging financial market conditions, clinical-stage Structure Therapeutics was able to upsize its IPO. Much of the new cash will support its lead program, an oral small molecule that could weigh in on the diabetes and obesity indications currently dominated by blockbuster injectable medicines.

Prevention is critical, and the ideas put forth in the White House’s proposal will likely help many Americans—particularly children—avoid weight gain as well as the downstream effects of obesity and its comorbidities. But more than 42% of U.S. adults already have obesity, and they need help now.

An Amgen drug led to weight loss that was sustained, clinical data that support advancing the molecule to a Phase 2 test expected to start in early 2023. While AMG 133 trails rival products from Novo Nordisk and Eli Lilly, Amgen hopes to offer patients a dosing edge.

Rivus Pharmaceuticals’ Series B round will finance ongoing clinical development of its lead drug, a pill that targets mitochondria to increase caloric expenditure. CEO Allen Cunningham said the new cash comes on the heels of results from a mid-stage obesity study showed treatment with the Rivus drug led to fat loss while also preserving skeletal muscle.

For individuals who have tried and failed to find success with diet and exercise alone, we now have one more weapon and one more reason for hope.

It is time to shift the conversation, incentives, and policy solutions to help people improve their health and get off of medications—not just make them cheaper.

Obese patients are more at risk for diabetes, cardiovascular disease, certain cancers and mortality than patients who maintain a healthy weight, and obese patient who develop these chronic conditions usually have more complications. That is why providers and payers must integrate more weight loss strategies in chronic condition care, panelists argued at a Tuesday panel hosted by the Chamber of Commerce.

Obesity is a disease, and America’s healthcare providers and hospital systems must be part of changing how we treat it. That means many of us in the health ecosystem must reexamine how we view patients with excess weight.

Novartis was unsuccessful developing bimagrumab as a treatment for a rare muscle disorder, but additional tests showed encouraging results in fat reduction. Startup Versanis Bio licensed rights to the antibody and plans to use its Series A financing for clinical trials testing the drug in obese patients.

Pinterest’s move to outright ban all ads referring to weight loss — regardless of quality of information — is woefully misguided, writes a former Pinterest executive.

The voluntary withdrawal was in response to an FDA request. Eisai said its interpretation of the data differed from the agency’s, but the drug’s original developer had called off pursuit of European approval when regulators there pointed to potential tumor risk from long-term use.

An analyst wrote that with selonsertib’s failures in fourth- and now third-stage fibrosis, the drug will have no place in NASH treatment. Gilead has entered partnerships focused on other compounds for the fatty liver disease.

The deal comes days after Gilead partnered on clinical development in NASH with Denmark’s Novo Nordisk, and two months after the high-profile failure of a Phase III study in the disease.