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Medicare coverage of obesity drugs could save taxpayers as much as $245 billion over a decade by reducing demand for hospital care and skilled nursing, according to new research from the USC Schaeffer Center for Health Policy and Economics. The study attempts to put a price tag on the public health benefits from expanding coverage as a new class of obesity drugs hits the market. (Bettelheim, 8/2)

Patients are bracing for “D-Day,” the date their insurance companies will stop covering the drugs. Doctors are getting letters from insurance investigators discouraging new prescriptions. And pharmacies are being told by insurers to check for a specific diagnosis when filling prescriptions. It’s a charge on all fronts by insurance companies to contain the spiraling costs of a new class of weight loss-inducing drugs, the GLP-1s. (Chen, 8/3)

The drugmakers Novo Nordisk and Eli Lilly failed to adequately warn patients about the possible risk of severe stomach problems associated with their blockbuster drugs Ozempic and Mounjaro, according to a lawsuit filed Wednesday. The 26-page lawsuit, filed on behalf of a Louisiana woman who says she was “severely injured” after taking the two diabetes drugs, is the first to allege that they can cause gastrointestinal injuries. (Lovelace Jr., 8/2)

Allurion Technologies, a Massachusetts-based maker of swallowable gastric balloons, today will go public on the New York Stock Exchange. Anti-obesity is health care's new big thing, thanks to the popularity of new drugs like Ozempic, after a long history of most prescribed treatments being behavioral. (Primack, 8/2)