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They Used GLP-1s to Lose Weight. They Ended up in Treatment for Anorexia.
The Wall Street Journal reported:
When Molly Taylor started taking Mounjaro in the fall of 2024, she marveled at the speed of results. She wasn’t overweight, but she hadn’t been comfortable in her body. Now, she could eat whatever she wanted, just in smaller portions, and people were complimenting her looks. She no longer felt self-conscious. Then her mindset began to shift. “I gradually started to worry about what I was eating, how many calories were in it, if it was going to stop me from losing more weight,” said the 23-year-old nanny, who is studying to be a nurse in London.
“I think that’s when I was starting to develop anorexia.” GLP-1s have been hailed as miracle drugs, their rise leading to critical breakthroughs in America’s fight against obesity. Roughly 13 million Americans are now on them, according to research from JPMorgan published in February. The drugs mimic naturally occurring hormones to suppress appetite and cravings and make people feel full.
For those who’ve struggled with restrictive eating and anorexia, that can be a tantalizing proposition — and a dangerous one. Anorexia kills a higher percentage of patients than any other eating disorder, and it is the second most deadly mental illness after opioid addiction, according to data compiled by the nonprofit National Association of Anorexia Nervosa and Associated Disorders.
Nearly All Countries Overuse Powerful Antibiotics, Global Study Finds
Certain antibiotics are overused in most countries, while too few people receive the specific antibiotic treatments they need, according to a study of antibiotic use across 186 countries published in The Lancet Public Health journal. The study provides scientific estimates of how many and which types of antibiotics each country could be expected to use ideally, based on local rates of infection and antibiotic resistance. Antibiotics are grouped by the World Health Organization (WHO) into three categories, known as the “AWaRe” system:
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- Access antibiotics, such as amoxicillin, are everyday first-line treatments suitable for most common infections.
- Watch antibiotics are stronger medicines that should be saved for specific conditions where simpler antibiotics won’t work.
- Reserve antibiotics are last-resort treatments for the most dangerous drug-resistant infections.
In 2024, world leaders at the United Nations agreed that at least 70% of antibiotic use worldwide should come from the Access group by 2030. However, no method previously existed to determine the right balance of antibiotics for any individual country.
Drug Company to Pay $4.7m After Admitting It Paid Providers to Use Its Product
Years after a whistleblower flagged a kickback scheme, a Bay State pharmaceutical company has agreed to pay $4.7 million. EyePoint Pharmaceuticals reached the settlement with federal prosecutors, according to the Massachusetts U.S. Attorney’s Office and a settlement agreement made public Friday.
Between January 2019 and March 2023, the Watertown-based company used two kickback schemes involving ambulatory surgery centers (ASCs) to induce them to purchase and dispense its drug, DEXYCU, a steroid used in eye surgeries, according to federal prosecutors. EyePoint admitted to using its “Assurance Program” to cover the cost of the drug whenever federal insurance programs denied coverage — paying ASCs cash or free replacement DEXYCU so the clinics wouldn’t lose money on a denied claim.
The company also admitted to giving thousands of free samples of DEXYCU to ASCs for use on patients whose private insurance wouldn’t cover the drug, which protected the centers from financial loss and encouraged them to keep purchasing DEXYCU for patients on federal health programs, prosecutors said.
Hair Loss With GLP-1 Drugs Is Rare, but Real, Studies Find
The risk of hair loss in patients taking GLP-1 drugs for obesity or diabetes, while low, is higher than with other diabetes drugs, new studies suggest. At two or more years after starting treatment, the odds of a new diagnosis of alopecia in GLP-1 users were 37% higher than in users of so-called SGLT-2 drugs and 68% higher versus DPP-4 drugs, researchers at the University of Pennsylvania reported on Wednesday in The BMJ.
Actual rates of alopecia were low, ranging from roughly 3 to 9 per 1,000 people per year, with between 11,000 and 15,000 people in each drug-class group. GLP-1 drugs in the study included semaglutide, sold by Novo Nordisk as Wegovy and Ozempic; tirzepatide, sold by Eli Lilly as Zepbound and Mounjaro; and older drugs in the class. SGLT-2 drugs included Johnson & Johnson’s Invokana, AstraZeneca’s Farxiga, and Jardiance from Boehringer Ingelheim and Eli Lilly. DPP-4 inhibitors included Merck’s Januvia and AstraZeneca’s Onglyza.
A separate recent study in the Journal of the American Academy of Dermatology, with more than 1 million participants worldwide found significantly higher risks of various subtypes of alopecia with GLP-1 drugs than with the commonly used diabetes drug metformin. A third new study suggests GLP-1 users face higher alopecia odds with tirzepatide than with semaglutide.
Ozempic Maker Novo Nordisk Sues US Rival Over ‘Materially Misleading’ Ads
Ozempic maker Novo Nordisk said on Tuesday it is suing arch US rival Eli Lilly over “false and materially misleading” adverts for its competing weight-loss and anti-diabetes treatments. The Danish pharmaceuticals heavyweight complained that the US group — which makes rival weight-loss treatments Zepbound and Mounjaro — “intentionally selected outdated studies” that compared Lilly’s highest doses against lower doses of Novo Nordisk’s medicines.
Eli Lilly’s ads “deceptively (presented) those results as proof of broad, product-level superiority while burying or omitting critical clinical context”, Novo Nordisk said. Novo Nordisk has developed a molecule called semaglutide, while Eli Lilly developed rival molecule tirzepatide.
The competing drugs are a financial windfall for each of the pharmaceutical companies. “As new and more effective treatment options become available, people deserve accurate information that reflects the latest scientific evidence and helps them make informed care decisions,” said John F Kuckelman, Novo Nordisk’s general counsel.
“Healthcare companies have a responsibility to keep their public claims accurate and current — ineffective, fine-print disclaimers do not fix the misleading impression created by major national campaigns.”
