Hello, everyone, and how are you today? We are doing just fine, thank you, especially since the middle of the week is now upon us. After all, we have made it this far, so we are determined to hang on for another couple of days. And why not? The alternatives — at least those we can identify — are not particularly appealing. So what better way to make the time fly than to keep busy. So grab that cup of stimulation and get started. Our flavor today is coconut rum, for those tracking our quaffing habits. Now, though, the time has come to get busy. So please grab your own cup and dig in to the items of interest assembled below. We hope you have a wonderful day, and please do keep in touch. …
A new observational study found that people taking Ozempic and Wegovy appeared to experience suicidal thoughts at a higher rate than people on other drugs, though experts raised concerns about the methodology and the findings contradict what some other studies have found about the class of GLP-1 diabetes and obesity drugs, STAT writes. Academic researchers analyzed a World Health Organization database that tracks suspected adverse drug reactions, and found that there was a 45% greater rate of reports of suicidal thoughts associated with semaglutide, the ingredient in Novo Nordisk’s Ozempic and Wegovy, compared with all other drugs in the database.
Eli Lilly is using its runaway success in obesity as a bridge into another lucrative area of medicine: immunology, Bloomberg News tells us. This fall, the company will begin recruiting for trials to test its popular weight loss shot Zepbound with psoriasis drug Taltz to see if the combination boosts effectiveness. The drugmaker is also exploring combination studies with Zepbound in inflammatory bowel disease, another immune disorder. Every top-selling success in the pharma industry is clouded with chronic anxiety over how to follow it up — sooner or later, competition is going to cut into sales. The combination studies are part of Lilly’s efforts to become a top player in immunology while creating a phalanx of drugs to outlive its obesity and diabetes breakthroughs.
