Blockbuster weight loss shots spark panic in diet industry

The rise of weight loss drugs like Wegovy and Ozempic has driven legacy companies that sell diet and fitness plans out of business.

Jenny Craig, a household name since its launch in the 1980s, announced last Tuesday that it was closing due to its “inability to secure additional funding.”

Meanwhile, Weight Watchers shares fell by about 29 percent in the weeks following the Food and Drug Administration’s approval of Wegovy for obesity, about $625 million was erased from the company’s market value in its biggest decline in several years.

The New York-based company is now embracing the drugs to stay relevant. However, the companies that fail to embrace the blockbuster drugs for obesity face extinction.

Dr. Shauna Levy, an obesity medicine specialist at Tulane University in New Orleans, Louisiana, said: “Unless they change to use drugs in some way, yes, I think we’re going to see a lot of change in the diet industry over the next several years, including many businesses closing.

“The companies will continue to exist as long as the gap in access to drug care exists.”

She added that diet companies first and foremost only sprung up to fill a gap left by the medical industry in weight loss treatment.

“These companies have taken over a need that physicians haven’t had the bandwidth to fill or the interest for, for a long, long time,” Dr. Levy said.

“Obesity has sort of been outsourced to these companies to take care of, and that’s how this industry has grown.”

The staggering effectiveness of the drugs, which can help obese people shed about 15 percent of their body weight in 68 weeks, has made them breakout stars.

Their success is the result of decades of research into treating obesity as a medical condition.

Wegovy and Ozempic both use the active drug semaglutide and its GLP-1 receptors. This means they work by activating the body’s glucagon-like peptide-1 hormones, which tell the body to stop eating.

By mimicking the activity of GLP-1, Wegovy and Ozempic may help reduce your appetite and the number of calories you consume.

Mounjaro is similar to Wegovy and Ozempic, but slightly different.

The active ingredient is called tirzepatide and acts not only on the GLP-1 receptors, but also on the hormone glucose-dependent insulinotropic polypeptide (GIP).

This dual impact makes it even more effective and has earned it the nickname “King Kong” from some experts.

Weight Watchers, now WW International, made a self-preservation decision earlier this year when telehealth prescribing company bought Sequence for $106 million, opening the door to connecting its customers to the clinically proven drugs.

WW shares rose eight percent that day.

Sima Sistani, CEO of WW, said of the move in March: ‘With science advancing rapidly, we know there is a significant opportunity to improve outcomes for those on medication.

“Clinical interventions require better education, access, care management, community and the integration of a complementary lifestyle program for best results.”

The acquisition sent WW shares up more than 70 percent, a saving grace after the company reported a surge in subscriber numbers fell by 15 percent by 2022

The weight-loss drug market is relatively new, but Novo Nordisk, the manufacturer of Wegovy and Ozempic, is proving to be the biggest winner so far as its stock is up more than 25 percent this year.

And the drugs have great star power backing them up with the likes of Elon Musk and Chelsea Handler (although she no longer takes the drug).

WW managed to stay afloat by embracing obesity medications, but the rise of the injectable fat loss solutions proved a death knell for Jenny Craig, a diet industry mainstay since the 1980s.

The now-closed company, with some 500 physical stores in the US and Canada, had been suffering for years from the weight of its own debt.

The company’s leadership has indicated that it was willing to make some significant changes to the business in order to remain relevant, but any moves forward are likely to be stalled indefinitely.

Mandy Dowson, CEO of the company, said: ‘Like many companies, we are currently transitioning from a physical retail business to a customer-friendly, e-commerce driven model.

“We will be able to share more details in the coming weeks as our plans materialize.”

The company’s stock information is not publicly available and was purchased by a private investment company in 2019, two years before the FDA approved Wegovy for obesity.

The food industry’s performance has been weak at best for years, thanks in part to pandemic-era lockdowns that have left people confined to their homes and unable to attend support meetings in person.

In fact, the pandemic has scratched WW’s business so deeply that it has had to cut 300 in-person meeting locations, about 29 percent of its footprint, mostly in major metropolitan areas where facilities were rented on a monthly basis.

Most mainstream diets aim to reduce the number of calories consumed per day without sacrificing nutrients.

WW worked by assigning users “points” that they would spend every time they ate food.

The number of points a person had depended on their weight loss goals and current height and weight. They would earn more points by practicing.

Each food had a point cost, although it was zero for very healthy foods like fruits and vegetables. Unhealthy foods had higher point costs.

The company said a person could lose one to two pounds per week with the system.

Jenny Craig offered personal weight loss coaching and users low-calorie prepackaged meals. This took away the burden of having to count calories and other macronutrients yourself.

But these diet plans often come with a hefty price tag. And many people find that they can’t stick to the regulated plans.

Dr. Levy added: “The industry is chasing people’s insecurities, this disease and the way it works, to sort of convince people that this is going to be the thing that works for you, but you have to put all this money pay.

“And now that we understand more and more about this disease and have a really effective treatment, it kind of shines a light on the fallacious nature of so many of these diets in the industry.”

The increased availability of Wegovy and its sister drug Ozempic has helped people realize that obesity is a medical condition, not the result of a major character flaw.

That’s great news, Dr. Levy said, but not everyone who would benefit from it can get it.

And just like flashy diet plans, the treatments can be prohibitively expensive.

Without insurance coverage, Wegovy injections cost just over $1,300 per pack, which equates to nearly $270 per week or about $16,190 per year.

Whether a person should continue taking the drugs for life to maintain weight also remains unclear, but many experts believe that people taking the drug may put the pounds back on once they stop, because the underlying problem has not been addressed. causing them to overeat.

They also say that muscle loss caused by the drug means that someone taking it cannot return to their old diet because it will lead to weight gain.

While calorie-restricted diets and exercise plans can lead to some weight loss, they are often not enough to make a big difference.

But when someone touts their impressive weight loss as a result of obesity medication or weight loss surgery such as a lap bandage on social media, they often face attacks on their character for taking a “shortcut.” The common belief is that if I had to suffer to get my beach body, everyone should suffer for theirs too.

But that kind of thinking is part of society’s obsession with fatness and phobia of fatness.

Dr. Levy said, “I definitely don’t think bariatric surgery, obesity medicine, as people say, are the easy way out. They worked hard to get here, but I do see it as a way out and a cure for illness.

And the other problem I have with the easy way out is who doesn’t take the easy way out? Why do we make this so negative when it comes to obesity? It goes back to discrimination against this population group.’