Would you like a side-order of Ozempic with that double cheeseburger?
A few years ago, when the media began reporting on new anti-obesity treatments based mainly on the discoveries of Denmark’s Novo Nordisk, the world’s leading supplier of insulin, the talk was of a “miracle product”: an expensive treatment involving daily injections capable of reducing weight by more an unprecedented 12%, with no apparent side effects.
Now, thanks to its semaglutide-based drugs such as Ozempic or WeGovy, Novo Nordisk, which dates back more than a century, is now the most valuable company in Europe, contributing 1.8% to Danish GDP in 2023 and with a market capitalization higher than Tesla’s. News of a new drug based on the molecule amycretin, which can also be taken orally and promises even faster and more efficient weight loss, has pushed the company’s share price to the 12th largest in the world.
How to make sense of a world where a leading company is tackling obesity? Are we creating a society based on waste, one where we can overeat without consequences?
The human species’ relationship with food has evolved throughout history. From a simple necessity, it has become a sign of prosperity, even though obesity has been linked to other health problems since ancient Greece. Despite this evidence, for much of human history, food was scarce, and obesity was…
