Health – An ethical pushback

March 7, 2024

The Journal, Chartered Insurance Institute

https://thejournal.cii.co.uk/2024/03/07/health-ethical-pushback

https://www.linkedin.com/feed/update/urn:li:activity:7173868669163257856

When possibilities are humongous – there is bound to be an intense interplay of multiple currents. The Pharma industry is just that today. I highlight some unintended consequences insurers encountered in the Purdue Pharma L.P. – McKinsey & Company tango.

From painkillers – here are some interesting trends in yet another hot segment (ongoing coverage by Quartz Daily):

Surging demand for weight loss medications have created a drug duopoly. Novo Nordisk & Eli Lilly and Company currently dominate the market. This has transformed the two pharmaceutical developers into some of world’s most valuable companies – and they could become the first $1 trillion pharma firms.

Novo Nordisk’s weight loss drugs Ozempic and Wegovy are popular, and powerful. So popular that they’re raising the GDP of the company’s native Denmark.

So popular that food company executives are fearfully calling Novo Nordisk CEO Lars Fruergaard Jørgensen to ask for advice because patients don’t want to eat.

Oprah Winfrey recently announced that she’s leaving the board of WW International (formerly known as WeightWatchers), which she’s served on since 2015 as one of the company’s largest shareholders.

Btw she revealed last year that she takes a weight loss drug. She didn’t specify which one! WW’s share price responded by dropping nearly 20%.

From making a difference in weightloss and type2diabetes, could they tamp down inflammation, too? Needs to be seen.

Other players want a slice of the success as well. Since the possibilities are compelling, some may resort to say ‘turbo-charging’ their sales.

Covid misadventures seem to be almost forgotten. Obesity and diabetes are here to stay. So are painkillers. And grow!

In such exciting times, insurers need to watch that insurance does not end up as a license to stray outside the ethical terrain.