Pharmaceuticals are now preparing a new big thing: drugs against the obesity epidemic. It was not brought to anyone to tell the world that there was a certain plague of pain. This is directly related to the consumption and intake of food. On other occasions we have done this space. We are talking about the global food market, based on ultra-processed foods. We have also mentioned the change in spending patterns in recent times and we associate it with a financial partner. Numbers are not so necessary to illustrate this crisis. Just look around people to understand the problems with weight.
Up to 15% less weight
There are many studies related to caloric intake, the way in which ultra-processed foods and sugary drinks change the mechanism of hunger and satiety, so that people eat more and more without feeling full. That issue is more than documented, now some clinical studies are beginning to be documented that are trying to send new drugs globally, so that people lose weight. A few days ago, the weekly English Economist published an editorial retrieving this question, but introducing a very relevant fact: a new class of drugs called GLP-1 receptor agonists, “generating interest among the rich and the beautiful.”
The fact that the publication included this in its edition said the editorial can only be taken as a sign of a new big business of many big companies (which have grown immensely in the last three years, due to the Covid-19 pandemic) in the coming years: they sell drugs that according to what is explained – injection a week enables people to lose up to 15% of their weight.
Other details shared by the aforementioned publication are that these drugs are already sold in the United States, Denmark, and Norway, but “soon they will be in other countries.” Which means that the necessary lobbying will be carried out so that entry into other national markets is allowed, they will begin to be promoted and for this purpose they will recruit artists, public figures and allocate resources to Universities, Research Centers and politicians for this purpose. .
Around the business
Given the serious problems of obesity, an argument will be made about what these new drugs can help. The economic projections that the Economist talks about are that the market for these new drugs will be about 150 billion dollars a year by 2003.
Having said this, it must be emphasized that the root of the problem remains untouched. This is to say that the factories that are betting on these products do not look at the base, the modification of the edition and the quality of the products that are consumed. This is an answer that does not address the problem of modifying the causes, but drugs (mostly antidiabetics that reduce appetite and lose weight) are offered to reduce what is the main symptom: being overweight. And this is what it is about: a sign of aggression, not necessarily a disease.
To interest you: Covid-19, three years later
What we are beginning to see is that there are clinical studies that show results: people who take the drug lose weight, but this does not solve the problem of poor nutrition that is our society and our age. The food industry created the problem and now the pharmaceutical industry is using it. Meanwhile, the economic model remains intact and this tells us that the problem is not really solved, but that the potential users of these new pharmaceutical products are guaranteed. I have no doubt that there is business on all sides.
