Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
Diabetes Drug Shown To Aid Weight Loss For Patients With Obesity
The New York Times: ‘A Game Changer’: Drug Brings Weight Loss in Patients With Obesity
For the first time, a drug has been shown so effective against obesity that patients may dodge many of its worst consequences, including diabetes, researchers reported on Wednesday. The drug, semaglutide, made by Novo Nordisk, already is marketed as a treatment for Type 2 diabetes. In a clinical trial published in the New England Journal of Medicine, researchers at Northwestern University in Chicago tested semaglutide at a much higher dose as an anti-obesity medication. (Kolata, 2/10)
CNN: Diabetes Drug Can Aid Weight Loss, Study Finds
A once-a-week injected diabetes drug helped overweight and obese people lose an average of 15% of their body weight over 16 months, researchers reported Wednesday. The maker of the drug, called semaglutide, has asked the US Food and Drug Administration to approve it for chronic weight management. If approved, it would be only the fifth prescription weight loss drug on the US market. Semaglutide is a glucagon-like peptide-1 receptor, or GLP-1 agonist -- a drug that increases the production of insulin. But it also appears to suppress appetite. (Fox, 2/10)
In other pharmaceutical news —
Stat: Equip, Startup Offering Virtual Care For Eating Disorders, Raises $13 Million
A vanguard of virtual behavioral health startups are attracting investor interest. The latest: Equip, which provides online treatment for eating disorders, announced Wednesday it has raised a $13 million Series A round. (Aguilar, 2/10)
Stat: Gilead’s Galapagos Deal Falls Apart, A Black Mark For CEO O’Day
The $5 billion deal that Gilead CEO Daniel O’Day presented as his signature move shortly after his arrival at the company two years ago has gone up in flames. Gilead announced Wednesday that it and partner Galapagos NV stopped the Phase 3 studies of a drug called zirataxestat, for idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis, because an independent data monitoring committee said the drug’s potential benefits were unlikely to outweigh its risks. (Herper, 2/10)
