Care or Cure?
A new anti-obese drug highlights new challenges in weight-loss in America.
About three decades ago, my journey in America ended with a master degree of business. It had been a hard two-year training in business at Georgia Institute of Tenology in Atlanta, Georgia. During my masters program, I had two goals in mind, which my statement of objectives in application clearly put the emphasis on.
These are good grade and good job after graduation. As for good grade, the achievement was somewhat satisfactory, reaching 3.4 grade point average. It was not so bad at that time. My job search turned into a few interviews at Coca-Cola Company. Later, I landed a job in Shibuya Office, Tokyo. In four years, a change was inevitable to go on to management consulting at Kurt Salmon Associates, subsequently becoming part of Accenture Technologies.
Besides two goals, there was a new one I have to create during my stay in America. Keep the weight below 140 pounds. It was very hard thing to do. I acutually put weight onto 160 pounds. Losing the weight to the normal BMI was, at that time, almost impossible to achieve.
On March 5th, a British weekly magzine, the Economist, published a story of weigh-loss trend in America. The title of the story is “The battle over the trillion-dollar weight-loss bonanza”.
Microsoft Copilot kindly summarized the article. When you use Copilot of ChatGPT, be aware of the copyright protection. ChatGPT doesn’t provide the summary of recent articles. If you like generative AI tools to make a summary, do so after the new issue is published. Usually a new issue is available on Saturday.
Here’s a summary of the article:
- Blockbuster Drugs: Novo Nordisk and Eli Lilly have developed GLP-1 agonists, Wegovy and Zepbound, which are highly effective weight-loss drugs. Sales have skyrocketed, with Wegovy’s sales reaching $4.5bn in 2023 and Zepbound expected to generate $2.9bn in its first year.
- Market Impact: The success of these drugs has significantly affected related industries, causing a 90% market value drop for WW (formerly Weight Watchers) and prompting food giants like Nestlé to anticipate changes in demand for sugary snacks.
- Production Challenges: Both companies face difficulties in meeting the high demand due to shortages of active ingredients and specialized “skinny pens” needed for drug administration. Despite investments to increase production capacity, demand is expected to outpace supply for years.
- Insurance Coverage: Currently, only half of the 110 million obese Americans have health insurance coverage for these drugs. Trials are underway to demonstrate additional health benefits, which may encourage broader insurance coverage in the future.
The next thing I did was to let Copilot generate discussion questions. It brought three question from the story and then I asked if it can choose the best of three to serving the public interests. Here is the answer.
Among the discussion questions related to weight-loss drugs and their impact, the one most relevant to serving the public interest is:
3. Insurance Coverage:
- Why do only half of the 110 million obese Americans currently have health insurance coverage for these drugs? Is it just?
This question addresses the accessibility and affordability of weight-loss medications, which directly impacts public health. By exploring ways to improve insurance coverage, we can enhance equitable access to effective treatments for obesity and promote overall well-being.
In this essay, I will be answering this question. In short, it is not just in American society. First, it is astonishing that 110 million Americans are in obesity. The population of the United States is 332 million. This means roughly one of three Americans are fat. If it is, this is unbelievable. To stay healty and live a long life, one has to be physically fit.
Second, the insurance coverage applys only half of obese Americans. It is not good. Because currently only two firms provide the weight-loss drugs. It is duopoly. The price of treatment is outragious at $16,000 a year.
In conclusion, what America needs is not cure but care. Caring the physicall body in a routine manner is critical to keep the body mass index below 25. Otherwise, most American will be turning obesity into diabetes. In fact, I heard the survey that one out of eight Americans in New York die from diabetes. That is not good.
Returning to Tokyo, my job was consistantly requiring the long hours of work in my 30’s and 40’s. The average weight was 150 pounds. Even with Sushi and vegitables from home-cooking by my Japanese wife did do well in losing the weight. I ran around my house for three years.
I hope that American people spend more on caring about their body to reduce the weight.