Â鶹ŮÓÅ

Eli Lilly’s obesity drug Zepbound significantly cut the risk of developing type 2 diabetes, showing the benefits of long-term use of the blockbuster therapy. In a Phase 3 trial that lasted over three years, people with pre-diabetes taking Zepbound had a 93% lower risk of progressing to diabetes compared with people on placebo, Lilly said Tuesday. The company did not report absolute risk rates. (Chen, 8/20)

A new study that found evidence of a higher rate of suicidal thoughts among patients taking Novo Nordisk A/S’s popular weight-loss and diabetes drugs is adding to a debate among doctors about the drugs’ safety. The study published Tuesday in JAMA Network Open is the first to mine the World Health Organization’s global database of suspected drug side effects for reports of suicidal thinking in patients who have taken the drugs. (Kresge, 8/20)

Eli Lilly & Co. is using its runaway success in obesity as a bridge into another lucrative area of medicine: immunology. This fall, the company will begin recruiting for trials to test its popular weight-loss shot Zepbound with psoriasis drug Taltz to see if the combination boosts effectiveness, Chief Scientific Officer Daniel Skovronsky said. The Indianapolis-based drugmaker is also exploring combination studies with Zepbound in inflammatory bowel disease, another immune disorder. (Muller, 8/20)

Employers are bracing for the largest surge in healthcare costs in more than a decade as pharmacy spending is expected to continue accelerating next year. Growing demand for pricey medications, including glucagon-like peptide-1 agonists, cancer treatments, and cell and gene therapies, has employers budgeting for a 7.8% increase in healthcare costs in 2025, according to the Business Group on Health’s annual survey, published Tuesday. (Berryman, 8/20)

For sausage, salami and steak lovers, the news has not been good. Scientists have been consistently finding links between red and processed meat consumption and heart disease, some types of cancer and earlier death. And now, two recent studies have added to the growing body of evidence that a meat-heavy diet may increase the risk of Type 2 diabetes. (Callahan, 8/20)