Obesity is a wicked problem for society. But for one multi-billion dollar global pharmaceutical company, obesity could become a license to print money … if it can win the hearts and minds of the federal government and Australian GPs. How? By having obesity classified as a “disease”. A four-part INQ investigation.
Novo Nordisk wants to change the way Australians think about obesity. And if it is successful, it could make a killing.
Getting doctors and medical bodies to classify obesity as a 'disease' would be a huge win for pharmaceutical companies. Here's how they're trying to do just that.
The race to find a pharmacological way to combat obesity is on — and in addition to financial pressures, it has proven devilishly difficult to make an obesity drug that is effective, safe and works at scale, across a population.
If Novo Nordisk is to fulfil the potential of its anti-obesity drug Saxenda, it needs more doctors to have a new understanding of how obesity really works. And to prescribe. Again and again.