Last fall, Brooke Steinberg of the New York Post wrote about a product line characterized as “companions for weight-loss drugs.” The purpose of these companions is to “allow those on the appetite-suppressing drugs to get the minerals and nutrients they need…”
Specifically, the “companion” turns out to be some sort of candy, but leaving that aside for the moment, the product is intended to partially prevent the loss of lean muscle mass, while preventing the rapid regain of weight. Admittedly, in the quest to escape the overweight condition, lean muscle mass is a thing that ought not to be sacrificed.
Obviously, the rapid regain of weight after quitting weight-loss drugs is a fate to be avoided. A question that presents itself is: In a perfect world, would candy be the perfect choice of vehicle to produce that result? It seems that the public might already be a bit too comfortable with such items as beet chewies which, even if they do not contain a single inappropriate calorie, are potentially dangerous because they habituate a user into thinking that whatever looks like candy and tastes like candy, is okay to consume.
Historically, the corporation behind this companion candy has misbehaved in all sorts of ways, like trying to corner the market on the world’s entire supply of potable water. In recent history, there has been credible evidence that, wherever babies are given enough free formula to allow their mothers’ milk to dry up, forcing the mothers to somehow find the money to buy more formula, just look around and this mega-corporation will be found.
Obviously, Nestlé is not the only outfit that profits extravagantly shady machinations — but it is rather notorious. A striking similarity can be seen between the baby formula scandal and a more current situation, namely, the weight loss drug craze.
Sneaky sales strategy
By creating a situation where mothers could not nurse their babies, the company guaranteed that sales of formula would continue. This created a situation worse than addiction, because those infants literally could not live without the substance they craved.
Today, by selling weight-loss meds that only work as long as people are taking them, the companies guarantee that sales of GLP-1 drugs will continue into infinity, because people who want to keep the weight off can’t get along without them. This may not exactly be addiction, but it certainly is a very compelling dependency.
So that is one of the current big questions. Whichever subcategory of the new weight-loss drug is involved, do patients/customers need to stay on it forever? Is the prescription tantamount to a life sentence?
A Scientific American article cites an example of why this is controversial:
A subset of clinical-trial participants who ceased taking semaglutide and stopped the study’s lifestyle interventions regained about two-thirds of their lost weight after one year.
Even if you have to do it forever, do you have to continue to do it the same way? Or will the necessity for periodic injections segue into the discovery of how to make wider and more efficient use of alternate routes? For instance, about a year ago statnews.com took a stab at answering the question, “Will oral administration replace injections?” by describing a new drug that would be taken as a pill twice a day:
Pfizer is running a Phase 2 study testing whether danuglipron can meaningfully reduce body weight for patients diagnosed with obesity, and Leerink Partners analyst David Risinger expects the company to disclose results as early as Oct. 31.
Last month, the same website updated the situation by noting that danuglipron is now being described as a once-a-day pill — when it comes out. But in the meantime,
[…] Pfizer is adding yet another preliminary study before beginning larger clinical trials that could eventually result in the medicine’s approval.
Your responses and feedback are welcome!
Source: “Nestlé rides Ozempic boom with new ‘companion’ candy for weight loss drugs,” NYPost.com,” 10/20/23
Source: “‘Breakthrough’ Obesity Drugs Are Effective but Raise Questions,” ScientificAmerican.com, 01/10/23
Source: “Pfizer’s twice daily pill for obesity hopes to rival Wegovy and Mounjaro,” StatNews.com, 10/26/23
Source: “Pfizer says it will advance once-daily GLP-1 pill after all,” StatNews.com, 07/11/23
Image by Judy Gallagher/Attribution 2.0 Generic
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