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Newly released data shows that the U.S. may have reached peak obesity in 2020 — and the timing unsurprisingly coincides with the rise of Ozempic and other popular weight loss drugs.
Obesity rates have been steadily rising around the world for decades. Globally, obesity among adults has more than doubled since 1990, reaching 1 billion people in 2022 — that’s one in eight people in the world, according to the World Health Organization. In the U.S., the situation is even more severe, with 40% of American adults classified as obese.
But according to a new report from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the country’s obesity rate is starting to shrink.
The adult obesity rate in the U.S. fell to 40.3% in 2023, from 41.9% in 2020, according to the latest National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey.
Although the report doesn’t specify the cause of the decline, the timing points to the growing use of GLP-1 treatments in the U.S. as a potential factor.
GLP-1 drugs, which mimic a hormone that regulates blood sugar and suppresses appetite, have become highly sought after for their weight loss effects.
Novo Nordisk (NVO+8.13%) launched Ozempic in 2017 for diabetes, but its weight loss side effects led doctors to prescribe it off-label for weight management. The company then tested higher doses of the drug’s active ingredient, semaglutide, specifically for weight loss. In 2021, the FDA approved this higher-dose version as Wegovy, which has been shown to help users lose an average of 15% of their body weight in 68 weeks.
Soaring demand for these treatments has transformed Novo Nordisk and Eli Lilly (LLY+2.12%), the maker of competing GLP-1 medications Mounjaro and Zepbound, into the most valuable pharma companies in the world.
Financial Times columnist John Burn-Murdoch observed that the country’s consumer-driven culture, which has contributed to obesity, could be the solution to overcoming it.
“The US leading the descent is a beautiful twist. Its unparalleled consumer culture sent its obesity rate rising faster and further than almost anywhere else. When the solution was regulation or moderation, America was at a disadvantage. But when procuring and distributing large quantities of pharmaceuticals is the name of the game, the U.S. is unrivaled. These drugs are more widely available there than anywhere else,” Burn-Murdoch wrote.
A significant portion of sales for these GLP-1 drugs come from the U.S. Since 2018, Novo Nordisk has generated $50 billion in revenue from Ozempic and Wegovy, with 72% of that amount attributed to U.S. sales, as noted by Sen. Bernie Sanders in September during a Senate committee hearing on the high prices of these drugs.