Weight Loss Drugs: the New Normal? Health or Aesthetics?

The year was 1923. August Krogh had just won the Nobel Prize. He was a Danish physiologist invited to the US for a lecture tour. During the tour, he learned about insulin, which had been discovered by two Canadian researchers. His wife, Marie, then asked the Canadians to make a stop in Toronto. The trip was a success. Insulin worked, and the Kroghs returned with permission to sell it. They formed the Nordisk insulin laboratory. They produced insulin, a miracle drug, and the Kroghs were thrilled.

Not long after, they suffered a setback—two Nordisk employees quit to set up their own company producing the same miracle drug, insulin. Now two pharmaceutical companies were operating just kilometers apart, pursuing the same market. Of course, there was rivalry. But by the 1980s, talks of a merger began, and in 1989, it finally happened. The company became what we know today as Novo Nordisk, the most valuable company in Europe.

However it’s not insulin that got them there, it’s the two obesity drugs- Ozempic and Wegovy. They are all the rage today; 2022 introduced us to weight loss drugs, 2023 was the year of these drugs, and 2024 is when it could become “The New Normal”.

The weight loss drug market is exploding; Who’s leading it? And are weight loss drugs the new money spinner? Ozempic and Wegovy were originally designed for diabetes, but they had a side effect of weight loss, and that’s because they are GLP1. GLP1 is a hormone in the body that slows digestion and activates insulin production; these drugs mimic the hormone, hence the name GLP1 drugs. When you consume them, you feel very full after meals, and then you start shedding weight. That’s what happened with Ozempic and Wegovy; weight loss soon became the primary selling point. It was everywhere- TikTok loved it, movie stars wanted it, and celebrities vouched for it. Oprah Winfrey, Elon Musk, and Boris Johnson- they all swear by it. Novo Nordisk had discovered the Holy Grail; demand was so high they could not keep up their manufacturing lines. They were operating 24 x 7, yet the demand kept growing in 2023. Currently, this company is valued at $428 billion- the most valuable company in Europe, even ahead of luxury giant LVMH. It’s so powerful that it’s lifting Denmark’s economy, and it all happened with just one successful pitch.

Today, a billion people in the world are considered obese. That’s 14% of the global population; some call it a modern-day condition, while others say it’s always existed. Science says obesity is a chronic disease; it means you have excessive body fat, which is measured by the body mass index or BMI. Trend prevails that 51% of the global population will be overweight or obese by 2035. Obesity brings with it serious risks like cardiovascular disease, diabetes, and kidney failure, even cancer. Obesity impacts the economy, too. There are direct costs like medical expenses and insurance, and then there are indirect ones likepremature mortality, missed days at work, and reduced productivity. All of this hurts a country’s economy and the global economy too.

What causes obesity? Multiple things- lifestyle, genes, hormones, and a multitude of other reasons, yet for years they see there seemed only one solution- Exercise and Dieting, but weight-loss drugs are changing that. Widespread acceptance of weight-loss drugs will take time; however, there are serious medical and ethical questions- Is weight loss about health or aesthetics? Can you undo the effects of a poor lifestyle with a drug? The other hurdle is the price- these drugs are very expensive. Take Zepbound if you’re in the US. They’ll cost you more than $1,000 every month; that’s more than Rs 880,000 every month, and research shows you need to keep using them as this is a long-term treatment, stretching for years. At a time, at that price point, it’s just not sustainable for most people, and this is giving rise to counterfeits like fake Ozempic injections. People buy them from the black market and this is dangerous. Regulators will have to work on this, but the larger picture still looks positive; we have the science, and we have proof that it works; what we need now are guard rails, affordability, and the destigmatization of weight-loss drugs.