Novo Nordisk is the leader with Ozempic but Lilly’s products are coming.
" Last year, Novo Nordisk brought in $18.4 billion from combined sales of Ozempic and Wegovy; Lilly reported $5.3 billion in total sales of Mounjaro and Zepbound."
The article may be a bit technical for investors but examines the difficulties (and environmental impact) of the necessary processes. It also mentions various companies with ideas for improved processes.
Thanks for this. As you say “a bit technical” but quite an eye opener as, for all the bluster and blather about these meds (and, by implication, plenty of others, I guess), I’d never thought about the environmental impact.
I think everyone on these drugs could use lessons on how to lose weight and keep it off by watching their diet. Most people try all the fads and fail then go on these. If they would have been taught how calories actually work they would have been much better off.
Andy
Taking the quick and easy way is a USian “traditional value”. I have mentioned before the coworker, at a restaurant, wolfing down a steak. One of the other guys said “don’t you have a problem with cholesterol?” Tom said “bah, I take pills for that”. People would rather spend a fortune on pills, than change one thing about their lifestyle.
Steve
These companies have potential to be hot growth stocks if they can pull it off. 1) Convince insurance companies or govt to pay the bill
2) Achieve major reductions in manufacturing costs.
Yes, other methods to lose weight are more cost effective. Customer testamonials are outstanding. And major health improvements (lowering health care costs) are possible. So far reports are favorable. Will that prove to hold up to closer studies?
Yea I had a friend that did that and then Covid came. But at the time they didn’t have a pill for Covid. Sad story. But if you asked them how many calories in a steak they would look at you and say I don’t know but I am only having one. One Ribeye giant steak LOL.
Andy
Yea Paul I am holding VKTX for that exact reason. It is in phase 3 of their weight loss drug.
Andy
If only it were that easy there would no obesity epidemic. I’ve been researching the subject for a very long time to overcome my own obesity and I’m down to close to my late teen weight having shed over 50 pounds. I did try some fad diets which didn’t work. Once I learned more about the causes of obesity I was able to change to a healthy lifestyle.
Lesson 1: Forget about willpower, it simply does not work for most people, for good reasons. As a friend used to say, “the only thing I cannot resist is temptation.” The temptation is hunger pangs. Animals in the wild will starve when there is food shortage but they will not become obese when there is abundance, instead they will procreate more. Humans do the opposite, when rich they get fat and birth rate drops. Note that I wrote above, “Animals in the wild.” Domesticated animals do get as fat as their owners! Clearly there is something more powerful than willpower at work.
Lesson 2: A healthy body in the wild knows when to eat and when to fast. Ruminants graze all the time because their food is very low in calories and nutrients. Predators (lions and snakes) do the opposite, after a big meal they lie down to rest. Hibernators overeat in the Fall to survive the Winter in synchrony with fruit bearing plants. Nature works in mysterious ways!
Lesson 3: Humans upset nature. Until the advent of fire there was not much difference between humans and other animals. With the advent of fire, cooking, and other processes human digestion was partly exported to these novel technologies. With agriculture food balance shifted from animals to plants. According to archeologists humans shrunk a bit in body and brain size.
Lesson 4: With industrialized food we really screwed up upsetting all the natural stimuli. Early on food was about nourishment. Industrial food is about profits, make it cheaply and create temptation, dependency, and addiction. Damn the consequences.
Lesson 5: The drug and medical industries love pandemics, profits forever.
Lesson 6: The odds are stacked against us but to get healthy we need to get back closer to nature. We need to eat more like our prehistoric ancestors, not an easy task with so many temptations. The secret is to stop eating stuff that is artificially tempting. I hadn’t eaten bread for years but when I (tried to) make dill pickles I bought a couple of ‘gems’ (bread rolls) to start the fermentation process. I only used half of one and ate the other half spread with butter. It tasted like manna from heaven, temptation on steroids!
Lesson 7: The cure starts at the supermarket and at the grocery stores, don’t buy anything that is highly processed which means most everything in pretty packages. Read the labels, avoid sugars and chemicals, avoid seed oils. After you eliminate all this garbage what is left is mostly meats, fish, and veggies. The one ‘veggie’ to buy with discretion is sweet fruit which contain fructose that bears use to get fat for the Winter’s hibernation season.
Results? Stay healthy and save money on food, medication, and doctors.
The Captain
That is a good summation Captain, but I would also state get an app that counts calories like Lose It. You can put into the app everything you eat in a day and it will give you a calorie count. If you want to be more specific you can get a scale that weighs your food. You should have around 2500 calories a day for a man and 2000 calories for a woman. That is if you want to stay the same weight. Anything under that you lose weight, anything over you gain. (Some people might be slightly different). This helps you put into context how many calories you are eating. I had no Idea how many calories where in the food I was eating and drinking but after I did that the light bulb came on. Some what tedious in order to lose weight but to maintain weight I didn’t have to worry about it as much. One thing that worked for me was, I could lower my calorie count under 1000 a day if I consumed more protein. Protein helps you stay full.
Andy
I have some physician friends who have ALL told me to buy into these companies (they have) because pills that cause weight loss is a no brainer due to human nature. Keeping you in the loop…doc
This is just another form of willpower … which doesn’t work. People will lie, brazenly lie, to themselves and certainly to the app. One thing I love about my Apple watch is that I can’t lie to it, it knows exactly when I stand up and walk around, it knows exactly how much I’ve walked, it knows exactly how much I swam, it even knows exactly which strokes I used while swimming!
Calorie counting is almost the very definition of willpower when it comes to food. It doesn’t work for the vast majority of people. What does work for a large cohort of people is depressing the appetite. Whether using a drug to do so, or using the intake of primarily proteins and fats to do so.
Could be Mark, but the thing about calorie counting is it helps you understand how many calories you are taking in. I was really surprised a Rib Eye steak had over 800 calories in it. I used to eat a Rib eye steak no problem. Also when I was younger i never wanted to count calories because it was way to tedious. Pull out a book, look up the food, input the data. The App all does that for you. If you want to get more precise you can weigh it also, they have food scales that make it much easier. But for most people I would agree with you. It is much easier to just use the App and get close is good enough. While the majority of people would go with the pill and is why I am invested. My doctor and I would rather not use any kind of medication if possible.
Andy
Thank you!
Ever heard of an animal that counts calories? Eating real food the body knows when enough is enough. A good habit is to stop nibbling between meals, give your digestion a rest. The good thing about the app is that it is not fattening. 
I use a bathroom scale to weigh me. I can’t see turning eating into an accounting chore.
If you eat meat, fish, dairy, and eggs you’ll get all the good protein you need.
The Captain
I was surprised by that too Captain. But according to the USD you need .36 grams per pound. It is really hard to get that many grams in while trying to lose weight.
Andy
Me, too! I loves me some rib eyes (although NY strips have often taken their place lately). The ‘secret’ for me is portion size. I find that 4 or 5 ounces of steak is plenty enough these days, which means the calorie count is more in the neighborhood of 300 - 400.
Pete
Right Pete, before I just never thought about how many calories it was but then I put the steak on a scale and 
Andy
Cut out the carbs and eat only meat, fish, eggs, and fat.
The Captain
.36 gms per pound? That’s a really low figure to be trying to hit. That’s actually just about the absolute minimum to aim for even if trying to maintain an aggressive energy deficit (unless you’re a 300 pounder or so, I guess) Weight loss in the morbidly obese…an out of vogue terminology but still useful as a description…is a complicated issue and, of course for anyone way up there in the heaviness stakes an emergency remedy is probably first order of business. Consuming only meat, fish, eggs, and fat would probably be an unsustainable diet for most.
FYI, I shoot for 100-120gms protein a day and fit my other macros in around that figure…primarily to assist in preserving/building muscle and other accompanying bodily structures that, left to their own devices in a 71 year old woman’s body, would be in pretty rapid decline. Given a bodyweight of around 130 lbs (my heaviest since pregnancy when I topped the scales at a whopping 142!!!)…with good body composition (equally important)…that’s not particularly easy for me to maintain (I would never be dumb enough to eat only meat, fish, eggs, and fat…even over the short term) but probably about the minimum requirement for my goals.
That, according to your weight is about 1 gram per body weight. Now if you were 200 pounds that would be .50 grams per day. So in order to get 1 gram you would need to get 200 grams a day. When you are in calorie deficit of 800 calories to 1000 calories a day 200 grams is very hard to do. But that is very impressive Vee. A protein drink with just protein powder is 160 calories with 22 grams of protein. But that doesn’t seem like a very healthy diet either. Edamame has 12 grams of protein with 145 calories. But I think you are right Vee, try to get as much protein as possible while staying at 800 to 1000 calories. That is well done Vee.
Andy
I am back on Noom. The program offers the drug or non drug versions.
I am not on the drug.
The program has readings. I got through most of the readings and then quit them.
For me the readings got into a very good place that was not working a diet but maintaining weight. I need to lose weight. I went back to square one with Noom. I am losing weight easily now. Yesterday I had a 1000 calorie deficit but I burned 800 calories in the gym. I do that twice a week. I generally have a 400 to 500 calorie deficit.
This has been going on for over a week now. I can keep this up for a 40 pound loss. I will be back under 180 this summer.
During the pandemic I had a 50 pound loss with this program.
The yo yo was about 17 pounds.
My blood work is excellent as is.