Pharmaceutical giant Eli Lilly announced this week that the highest dose of its new weight-loss drug helped people shed more than 30 percent of their body weight, on par with gastric bypass surgery. If those stunning numbers hold up, the medication could transform care for severe obesity and add yet another powerful weapon to the arsenal against chronic diseases.
The news comes with some important caveats. The results are from a large clinical trial of the once-a-week injection, called retatrutide, which has yet to be peer-reviewed. The drug also comes with side effects such as gastrointestinal issues that were so intense that 11 percent of participants discontinued use. That’s a higher drop-out rate than other GLP-1 drugs, such as Novo Nordisk’s Wegovy and Eli Lilly’s Zepbound.
Still, Eli Lilly’s innovation promises to unlock surgery-free treatment for people with a severely high body mass index, for whom weight-loss medications have not been a durable option. Lower doses of the drug will also compete with current weight-loss drugs on the market, putting downward pressure on prices and improving access.
GLP-1s have already had a dramatic impact on the economy. Their initial high costs have increased health care spending, but they are pushing consumers toward healthier behaviors with enormous benefits. Studies have found that users of these drugs cut their grocery expenditures, especially on calorie-dense snacks and processed foods. That’s forced companies such as Nestle to diversify their product lines.
That could mean reducing future health care costs on chronic illnesses such as diabetes and cardiovascular disease. It’s also making people more productive.
In 2024, Goldman Sachs projected that the drugs, if they reached 30 million users, could boost U.S. gross domestic product by 0.4 percent. That’s about how many adults report taking them today, and demand is only growing. No wonder Eli Lilly last year became the first-ever health care company to be worth a trillion dollars.
Not long ago, addressing America’s obesity epidemic was seen as something only the government could solve by micromanaging consumers’ eating habits. As is often the case, however, science-based innovation has proven far more effective than any initiative from Washington.
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