Hot TikTok Trend Uncovers Investment Boom
“It’s Kim before Ozempic.”
That was a joke made by comedian Health McDonald about Kanye West’s new wife.
I’ll admit, I didn’t get any of it.
But figured it was worth a look.
And what I found was a force behind a major investing trend with years of growth ahead of it.
Taking It Easy
First things first, we’ve got to clarify what Ozempic is.
Ozempic is the drug that has been sweeping through social media as a weight loss wonder drug.
Ozempic is the brand name for the active Semaglutide.
You’ll also see Semaglutide marketed under the name Wegovy.
The main difference between Ozempic and Wegovy is the size of the dose (since it’s delivered in pre-loaded injection packs) and what each is approved to treat, diabetes and obesity.
For our purposes, we’ll just say Semaglutide because it’s the same drug.
Now, back to what’s hot.
Semaglutide is sweeping the social media circuit.
In the joke above, Kanye’s new wife appears a bit bigger than his old wife. Hence the joke about “pre-Ozempic.”
That’s the cultural reach of this single drug.
It’s kind of massive in a way.
No drug has had this kind of broad name recognition since probably Viagra.
That’s where things get interesting.
Viagra has sold on average about $1.8 billion in revenue for nearly 20 years.
It was a joke…but brought fortunes right along with it.
The breakout of this trend is a sign obesity drugs will surely do the same.
A Blockbuster Drug For A New Generation
The most impressive part of the #Ozempic trend is its impact on the availability of Semaglutide.
The surging demand driven by the social media contagion has caused massive shortages of the drug.
Many who took some for Semaglutide had to find alternatives.
The supply chain was completely exhausted and it could take weeks to get refilled.
This is how overwhelming demand can be for weight loss drugs.
And the timing couldn’t be better.
This new generation of weight loss drugs are targeting all sorts of body processes.
Some can slow digestion princesses. Others match the hormones which cause you to feel less hungry.
They all have the same impact - weight loss.
And they all have big backers.
Pfizer, Eli Lilly, and other big pharma companies have the distribution networks ready to go for these drugs if and when they get approved.
Even Novo Nordisk (NVO), the big pharmaceutical company that developed Semaglutide, has upped its forecast of how successful these weight loss drugs will be.
According to a report from 2020, the company initially estimated sales of $1.7 billion by 2025 from its weight loss segment.
But after initial prescriptions started rolling in, it revised it to $3.7 billion by 2025.
It may be a bit of a joke like Kanye West getting remarried. Or the joke that Viagra was.
But fortunes were made by those that looked past the joke and understood the potential in providing a fix (even a quick fix) to serious problems.
Obesity is definitely big and will be quite lucrative.
Look to 2023 as the year weight loss drugs became a viable, socially acceptable, and wildly lucrative solution.
