The blockbuster weight loss drug sold as Ozempic and Wegovy [has, on 21 March, gone] generic in countries that are home to 40 percent of the world’s population, significantly lowering the price of a costly medicine that had been largely unaffordable to nearly all but the wealthiest people. On Saturday, Novo Nordisk, the company that until now has had a monopoly on selling the drug, will lose patent protection in several of the world’s most populous countries. The first generic versions are expected to arrive in India as soon as this weekend. In the coming months, the generics are also expected to become available in China, Canada, Brazil, Turkey and South Africa.
Sounds to me like the US is going to continue to be a country of morbidly obese poor people in a much skinnier world.
The rest of the world doesn’t need Ozempic.
There are morbidly obese people all over the world, but the US does fat more bigly and with more of the population than any country I know… Looking it up with Google - lots of Pacific Island countries have slightly more obese people than the US (which is at 42%), also Kuwait, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and Egypt are tipping the scales in the US overweight class, but yeah - US is a world leader in total number of fat people, by a big margin - though China is growing quickly and may soon outweigh the US in total numbers, if not percentage of the population.
But they weren’t there 30 years ago.
This is a lifestyle problem with a drug solution.