Weight loss: the biggest losers

Sure, new weight loss meds are great for patients, and they can potentially head off a variety of health issues. But has anyone thought of what Mounjaro, Ozempic, Wegovy, and kin will do to the snack food market? Yes, someone has — Reuters commentators Aimee Donnellan and Robert Cyran explain how these new drugs spell trouble for some old friends.

During trials, patients showed reduced appetite and even an aversion towards food generally. This has the potential to affect giant groups such as Switzerland’s Nestlé, Cadbury and Oreo maker Mondelez International, and Kraft Heinz. […] Fast food groups like McDonald’s, Burger King, and KFC owner Yum Brands could also face shrinking or shifting demand.

Region Meetings are next week!

Time is running out. If you live in one of the following GPhA regions, you’re almost out of time to sign up for your fall Region Meeting!

• Region 2 (Moultrie area): Tuesday, September 26
• Region 4 (Peachtree City area): Wednesday, September 27
• Region 5 (Atlanta area): Tuesday, September 26
• Region 10 (Athens area): Wednesday, September 27

Artist’s conception

For just $10 you can to hang out with other local pharmacy pros for a great dinner, an update on Georgia pharmacy, and a fun and low-pressure networking opportunity.

Sign up for your region meeting dinner now! Details and sign-up links for all the meetings are at GPhA.org/regionmeetings.

Respiratory virus coin flip

CDC scientists are predicting one of two ways this year’s respiratory virus season will shake out.

Scenario A:

• Moderate flu and RSV activity
• Moderate Covid-19 activity
• Staggered peaks

Scenario B:

• Severe flu and RSV activity
• Moderate Covid-19 activity
• Overlapping peaks

So the big question seems to be how bad flu and RSV will be this year. And with the flu shot showing pretty decent effectiveness in Australia, there’s reason to be optimistic.

Tiny med, shrinking acne

Aussie scientists were looking for a way to get acne medication through the skin, which is a tougher nut to crack that you might think. Their solution was to take narasin, a decades-old livestock antimicrobial, and do some nano-science to it, making it small enough to slip inside the acne and wreak havoc on the bacteria there, clearing the acne and saving prom night.

(See, the nano-science gave the drug the ability to be absorbed 100 times more than if it was just applied with water. Although why you would apply a topical drug with water wasn’t explained.)

The point is, narasin is an existing drug, so this could be turned into a real therapeutic sooner rather than later.

Now Lilly is suing over Mounjaro

Back in June, Novo Nordisk sued pharmacy compounders who offered compounded versions of semaglutide. Now Lilly is following suit (ha!), accusing wellness centers and compounding pharmacies of ‘illegally’ selling products with tirzepatide, the active ingredient in the company’s Mounjaro.

Its claim: Those places are selling “unregulated” versions of tirzepatide.

The problem: Saying that compounded tirzepatide products “have not been reviewed by the U.S. FDA” (as Lilly did) is akin to saying that Lilly’s facilities “have not been certified by OSHA.” That’s not what OSHA does, but it sure sounds scary. The FDA doesn’t regulate compounded formulations, just the ingredients. And certain compounding pharmacies can, by law, compounded versions of drugs in shortage — like tirzepatide. We’ll see how this plays out soon enough.

Elsewhere: Show Tell Me edition

No, ruled a federal judge, the state of Missouri’s board of pharmacy cannot punish a pharmacist for telling a patient or physician, “You know, ivermectin doesn’t do a thing for Covid.” Apparently the state passed a gag order law prohibiting pharmacists from doing just that — but it only affected ivermectin and hydroxychloroquine, not any other drug.

One pharmacist challenged the legislation, saying it violated her First Amendment rights because it prevented her from saying those drugs didn’t work but not from saying they did. (There’s also the issue of her professional duty as a pharmacist.)

The pharmacist had stated that she believed that “counseling patients and doctors to the best of her professional judgment is required as a matter of professional ethics, even when that means contacting the patient or doctor to dispute the efficacy of a given medication.”

The judge agreed. Apparently you can’t pass a law (and threaten someone’s license) for saying “orange is better than green” but not for saying “green is better than orange”.^*

^* Orange is better than green.

Botox’s next trick

The next normal part of aging that botulism toxin is going to take on? Platysma bands, aka the two vertical lines on your neck that apparently is now a Bad Thing to have. Abbie just announced that its Botox has passed a phase 3 trial for treating platysma bands, so expect it to be officially used for that soon … with some freakish TikTok alternative being pushed soon afterwards.