Weight-Loss Drug Poised For FDA Approval Could Be ‘Best-Selling Drug Ever’

In June 2021, the weight-loss drug Wegovy, developed by pharmaceutical company Novo Nordisk, was approved by the US Food and Drug Administration for adults with a body mass index (BMI) of over 30, the official definition for ‘obese’. 

More recently, the same medication was given the green light to be used in children as young as 12 years of age, after performing well in clinical studies that proved it was far more effective in helping teenagers lose weight than with a placebo. 

Now, as the medical industry waits for a similar Eli Lilly drug to be approved this year, experts have speculated that the injectable could become the “best-selling drug” of all time, NBC News reports.

The drug, dubbed tirzepatide, which is still awaiting the FDA’s official go-ahead, will join Wegovy and Saxenda as an increasingly popular method of treating the disease, which has a prevalence of 41.9% in the country. 

All three drugs, which have shown promising results in clinical trials, are part of a drug class named GLP-1 agonists, and help patients shed weight by mimicking a hormone that suppresses appetite and food intake. 

One key difference with Eli Lilly’s forthcoming injectable is that it succeeds at imitating an additional hormone, known as GIP, which could help to reduce appetite and cause the body to break down sugar and fat more efficiently. 

The latest clinical trial of the injectable showed it helped patients lose an average of 22.5% of their body weight, or an estimated 52 pounds, making it the best performer on the market thus far compared to Wegovy’s 15% and Saxenda’s 5%. 

While Bank of America analyst Geoff Meacham predicted the annual sale of the medicine could hit a record-shattering US$48 billion, concerns are now brewing that not everyone who could benefit from the drug will be able to afford it. 

According to NBC News, the drugmaker could potentially price it similarly to the other two on the market, which goes for between US$1,350 to US$1,500 for a month’s supply. 

Dr David Rind, Chief Medical Officer for the Institute for Clinical and Economic Review, a research group that aids companies in determining fair prices for drugs, said a “fair” price for tirzepatide could be an estimated US$1,100 monthly. 

It also remains to be seen if insurers will be willing to cover the cost of the drug, which has already been approved to treat diabetes at a much lower dose under different names. 

As Dr W. Scott Butsch, Director of Obesity Medicine at Cleveland Clinic posited, insurance firms could still be reluctant to fund obesity treatments by seeing the illness as a “behavioral problem rather than a medical one.” 

Other physicians cited concerns that patients are using the current diabetic medicines as unauthorized weight-loss drugs, and thereby causing a shortage of life-saving medication needed by “underserved” diabetic patients. 

In fact, as People noted, Wegovy is among the drugs listed as “currently on shortage” on the FDA’s site, with its maker Novo Nordisk admitting that there has been a recent increase in demand. 

Dr Caroline Apovian from the Brigham and Women’s Hospital warned that these medications should only be used for “people who are dying of obesity,” and not for vanity projects aiming to lose 10 pounds. 

[via NBC News and People, cover image via Photowitch | Dreamstime.com]