April 29, 2024
According to an article at Biospace.com, GLP-1 agonists are set to become the best-selling drugs in 2024, but the biopharma industry isn’t resting on its collective laurels. Instead, some companies are pushing to improve upon the popular obesity medicines with therapies that promote higher-quality weight loss.
Clinical studies have shown that up to 40% of the weight patients have lost on Novo Nordisk’s Wegovy (semaglutide) may have come from muscle, which is associated with poor health outcomes, especially among elderly patients.
Loss of muscle mass is associated with poor outcomes, particularly in the elderly population, where it is already on a steady decline from sarcopenia. For people over 65, additional reduction leads to loss of function, higher rates of bone fractures and even higher rates of mortality, he said. Research also shows that greater lean mass leads to better cardiovascular health in the elderly.
In additional to the risk of losing muscle, weight loss often plateaus for patients after more than a year on GLP-1 drugs
“[GLP-1s] are great drugs, but there’s room for further improvement and further segmentation in the marketplace,” Altimmune CEO Vipin Garg told BioSpace. Garg expects the market to eventually differentiate between mechanisms of action for specific patient needs. Biohaven plans to initiate a Phase II trial of its own myostatin, taldefgrobep, in obesity in the second quarter of this year.
Ultimately, Mamtani said he believes the next-gen GLP-1s and other obesity drugs currently in development will have synergistic mechanisms to both preserve muscle and achieve maximum weight loss, perhaps even moving toward sustainable weight loss where the drug can be stopped for periods of time. However, he added, “none of these things are going to replace or supplant the GLP-1 drugs.”
For More Information About The U.S. Weight Loss Market…
Marketdata LLC has just published a new analysis of the weight loss market: “The U.S. Weight Loss Market: 2024 Status Report & Forecast”, March 2024, 107 Pages.
Some findings:
- Obesity medications.. This market for prescription drugs in the U.S. more than doubled in 2023, from an estimated $5.1 billion in 2022 to $11.9 billion in 2023 as demand continued to soar for drugs such as Novo Nordisk’s Saxenda, Wegovy and Ozempic, as well as the entry of new drugs such as Mounjaro and Zepbound into the market.
- Medical weight loss programs and services were estimated to be worth $21.0 billion in 2023. This is the highest share of the market posted since 1989. Medical programs are provided by independent physicians (incl. bariatricians), clinics, hospitals, and medical weight loss franchises.
This new Marketdata report presents a wrap-up of 2023 performance for the U.S. weight loss market during the obesity drugs market explosion and a forecast for 2024. The value of the total market is estimated to have grown to a historic peak of $90 billion in 2023, boosted by soaring sales of the popular prescription GLP-1 weight loss drugs. This is a paradigm shift to medical programs, and a major challenge for competing commercial diet companies, which lost $1 billion in revenues since 2022.
GLP-1 drugs are a game changer in terms of the number of medications now on the market, plus others to come in the next several years. They have affected dieter behavior and how commercial diet companies operate. Nearly all non-medical segments of the market have felt the pain of declining sales, and 26,500 weight loss coaches have lost their jobs. However, more physicians are adding weight loss to their practices, bariatric surgeries are hitting new highs, and caseloads/revenues at medical weight loss franchises and at bariatricians are growing.
The report includes in-depth analyses of: 2020-2023 market/revenue performance, recent competitor and market developments, current dieter trends, diet company advertising spending, and a new analysis of the number and salaries of weight loss coaches in the industry. Special emphasis and analysis on the obesity drugs market, risks, what could derail the market, and why there is a wild west environment emerging – problems with using cheaper compounded drugs that are not FDA-approved.
Individual Status Reports and the Effects of the obesity drugs boom on operations and revenues, for ALL major weight loss market segments… diet soft drinks, artificial sweeteners, health clubs industry, commercial weight loss chains, retail meal replacements and retail appetite suppressants, medical programs (physicians, hospitals/clinic programs, prescription diet drugs, bariatricians, weight loss surgeries), and low-calorie dinner entrees.
Includes profiles/updated outlooks for: WW, NutriSystem, Jenny Craig, Medifast, Herbalife, Glanbia (Slim-Fast), Noom, Simply Good Foods (Atkins), HMR Boston, Lindora, and Profile by Sanford. Marketdata analysis of company strategy, conference calls.
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