The invention of seeing a new Wegovy miracle drug every few years
Larry Summers, President Emeritus and Professor at Harvard University, at the World Economic Forum (WEF) in Davos, Switzerland, Tuesday, January 21, 2025.
Stefan Wermuth Bloomberg | Getty Images
The miracle drug breakthroughs that fueled the meteoric growth of WeGoV and ZepBonds could come every two years thanks to new technologies, former US Treasury Secretary Larry Summers predicted on Tuesday.
Speaking on a World Economic Forum panel moderated by CNBC’s Steve Sedgwick, the world is currently in the midst of an “incredible technological opportunity” that will bring about unprecedented innovation.
“The technological possibilities before the world have never been brighter than today,” he said in Davos, Switzerland, citing advances in green energy, computing and life sciences.
“We’re entering a world where we look at things like Wegovi and semaglutides — miracle drugs, new ones — every couple of years,” he said. “And I believe that AI will be to the Internet as the computer was to the calculator.”
Semaglutides – a class of drugs used to treat type 2 diabetes and obesity – have become a weight loss phenomenon in recent years. Demand for the drug has led to major commercial success for pharmacies, including Novo Nordisk, which produces semaglutide under the Wegovy and Ozempic brands. Eli LillyCompetitors produce Zepbound.
The drugs are also associated with improved health outcomes, with trial data showing a reduced risk of major cardiovascular disease and stroke. Drug abuse.
Ozympic, Wegovi and other weight loss medications held at the JFK Airport International Mail Facility.
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Sumer suggested that those broader applications could be replicated in the future across other drug groups and medical conditions.
Vas Narasimhan, CEO of Swiss pharmaceutical company Novartis, struck a more cautious tone in his attitude towards such miracle drug groups.
Referring specifically to the obesity drug group, Narasimhan said on Tuesday that such innovations, while “useful,” are unlikely to fully address underlying health issues.
“They really help a subgroup of patients a lot,” he told CNBC’s “Squawk Box Europe.”
“The reality is that being on these drugs for the rest of your life is hard work, especially when you’re outside of advanced health care systems, and there’s a need to rethink whole food systems to fight obesity,” he said. Related health issues.
Novartis has so far stayed out of the growing weight-loss drug market, telling CNBC in September that it had no plans to join the “scary” market.
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Correction: This story has been revised to reflect the correct spelling of Larry Summers’ name in the headline.
