Lessons from Novo Nordisk on the stampede for obesity drugs

, who manages a ranch in rural Texas, is not the type you would normally associate with a weight-loss fad. But a year ago he finally got fed up with lugging his 320lb (145kg) frame around all day in the heat. His family has a history of heart disease. As a result of covid-19, he had become painfully aware of the risks of obesity. His efforts to lose weight through diet and exercise had gone nowhere. “I needed some help.” So his doctor, a family friend, suggested he use an injectable drug from Novo Nordisk, a Danish drugmaker, that is approved for type-2 diabetes but, as a fringe benefit, helps with weight loss, too. To start off, the price, at about $1,000 a month, was out of Mr Ingram’s reach. Because he didn’t suffer from diabetes, his insurer wouldn’t cover it. Then he discovered an online Canadian pharmacy that shipped it to him for $350 a month. Since using it, he has shed 60lb. When he goes to the gym and picks up two 30lb barbells, he thinks, “I used to carry this much more weight around on me all day long.” It’s life-changing, he reckons—he eats less, exercises more and his doctor is “tickled to death”. “It blows me away that insurers don’t want to pay for it.”