First Opioids, Now Ozempic — How Big Pharma is Creating Addiction and Cashing In
Seven years ago, a little-known drug called Ozempic received FDA approval to treat diabetes. Word got out on social media that Ozempic did more than that — it also led to dramatic weight loss.
Not temporary weight loss that usually comes from following a short-lived diet protocol, but the kind of weight loss where diet and exercise are no longer an obstacle to begin with. Now celebrities like Oprah are using it to bypass traditional weight loss methods altogether.
Weight management solutions have been around for a while. The idea of looking for a shortcut to weight loss isn’t new. Slick marketers have been selling everything from baseless fad diets to unregulated supplements for decades. This has made the diet industry alone worth roughly $76 billion.
But the game is changing. With Big Pharma now in the ring, the race is on to cash in on the windfall weight management promises to create from unrestrained consumption and gluttony.
Last summer, Eli Lilly made headlines after purchasing obesity drug maker Versanis for a whopping $1.9 billion. Meanwhile, the valuation of Novo Nordisk — the other major player in the weight loss space — recently surpassed that of Tesla after trial data showed promising results from a new experimental…
