Don't lose sight of real worries in the hype over obesity drugs

Affordable, equitable and responsible use won't be easy to achieve

- LISA JARVIS

This year, the incredible potential of obesity medicines like Novo Nordisk’s Ozempic and Wegovy and Eli Lilly’s Zepbound started to come into view. The drugs work so well for so many that it’s starting to look like they could change the literal and metaphorical shape of society—starting with our waistlines and extending to our overall health and our habits around food and alcohol.

And yet, the way we talk about these drugs remains stuck in frustrating binaries. The drugs are either a panacea or an overpriced band-aid; they will either solve one of the biggest problems in health care or burden the system with billions of dollars in unjustified cost. The extremes keep us from honestly addressing some fundamental questions about these drugs, the most pressing of those being: What role should they play in addressing a sicker, fatter society?

There are many obstacles to starting to address that necessary question. One is the still-widespread attitude that the drugs make weight loss too easy—that the only meaningful pounds shed are those earned through diet and exercise. Another is the hardened position of some body positivity activists, who refuse to acknowledge any connection between weight and health. Same goes for the click-bait headlines that either hype the drugs’ miraculous abilities or foster fear about their potential dangers.