A new class of weight loss drugs is transforming the U.S. healthcare system in ways that could extend to equally hard-to-treat areas like substance abuse, according to speakers at the Reuters Events Total Health conference in Chicago this week.
CHICAGO, Nov 9 (Reuters) - A new class of weight loss drugs is transforming the U.S. healthcare system in ways that could extend to equally hard-to-treat areas like substance abuse, according to speakers at the Reuters Events Total Health conference in Chicago this week.
Drugs in the class, which are also under development at a number of other pharmaceutical companies, are designed to mimic action of the GLP-1 hormone to regulate blood sugar, slow digestion and suppress appetite.
He said NIH-supported studies are still “very much a work in progress,” and the drugs can cause side effects, but “it does open up a whole new set of possibilities to control things like obesity, metabolism in general, perhaps other addictive conditions.”
“I think these drugs are going to change the way people experience healthcare,” he said, while noting that reimbursement by health insurers has not yet caught up with demand.
“If you are able to get a better control of obesity in this country, the savings on the back end due to reductions in cardiovascular disease, and then, you know, related conditions will be quite vast,” Tabak said.
Much has been made of the impact the new weight loss drugs might have on consumer habits such as snack food purchases, but Driscoll said Walgreens has not seen that yet.
The original article contains 482 words, the summary contains 218 words. Saved 55%. I’m a bot and I’m open source!
This is the best summary I could come up with:
CHICAGO, Nov 9 (Reuters) - A new class of weight loss drugs is transforming the U.S. healthcare system in ways that could extend to equally hard-to-treat areas like substance abuse, according to speakers at the Reuters Events Total Health conference in Chicago this week.
Drugs in the class, which are also under development at a number of other pharmaceutical companies, are designed to mimic action of the GLP-1 hormone to regulate blood sugar, slow digestion and suppress appetite.
He said NIH-supported studies are still “very much a work in progress,” and the drugs can cause side effects, but “it does open up a whole new set of possibilities to control things like obesity, metabolism in general, perhaps other addictive conditions.”
“I think these drugs are going to change the way people experience healthcare,” he said, while noting that reimbursement by health insurers has not yet caught up with demand.
“If you are able to get a better control of obesity in this country, the savings on the back end due to reductions in cardiovascular disease, and then, you know, related conditions will be quite vast,” Tabak said.
Much has been made of the impact the new weight loss drugs might have on consumer habits such as snack food purchases, but Driscoll said Walgreens has not seen that yet.
The original article contains 482 words, the summary contains 218 words. Saved 55%. I’m a bot and I’m open source!