Ozempic for All?

The Daily

The New York Times

Daily News, News

4.4 • 102.8K Ratings

🗓️ 14 November 2025

⏱️ 23 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Drugs like Ozempic and Zepbound have revolutionized weight loss. And starting next year, the drugs are going to become more affordable for Americans because of a deal struck with pharmaceutical companies by the Trump administration. Eshe Nelson, who covers economics and business news, explains how the change has its origins in a huge business blunder from the creator of Ozempic, Novo Nordisk.

Transcript

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0:00.0	From the New York Times, I'm Natalie Kittrow-F.
0:03.9	This is the Daily.
0:09.3	In the coming year, GLP-1 drugs like OZempec and Manjaro may become way more attainable for millions of Americans,
0:17.6	as President Trump promises to lower their cost, and drug makers race to release them in pill form,
0:23.6	paving the way for what could be the next revolution in weight loss.
0:28.6	Today, my colleague Isha Nelson on how that story of accessibility actually started years ago,
0:35.6	when one company invented the first version of these drugs and then lost control of them.
0:43.5	It's Friday, November 14th.
0:50.5	Isha, you've been covering OZempic and this new class of weight loss drugs, and we're coming to you because it seems as though we may be approaching a real turning point in our collective relationship to these medications.
1:03.4	So just tell me about how you're thinking about this moment.
1:07.7	Yes, I think we are definitely at some sort of turning point, or at least heading towards the next stage of these new class of weight loss drugs.
1:16.4	They've been available for a few years now that despite there being 100 million Americans, for example, who are classified as obese, only a few million people are using these drugs.
1:25.8	So we are, I think, getting to this point where
1:28.7	access will really broaden and many more people might start to use them. And that's because one of
1:34.7	the big changes we can expect is that these drugs will become available in pill form. Because at the
1:40.4	moment, you can only use them as injections. They're weekly injections that might deter some people. But I think these pills could really revolutionize the access to weight loss drugs. And those pills just start to hit the market early next year. That's huge. Yeah, it is. And the other thing that could widely increase access to many more Americans is the deal President Trump recently announced.
2:01.3	Right. Tell me about that deal.
2:02.8	Yes. So last week, President Trump got into the Oval Office, the heads of Novo Nordisk,
2:08.5	and the heads of Eli Lilly.
2:09.6	Well, both of these gentlemen, they're really are stars in the truest sense. And it's an
2:14.4	honor to have you in the White House.
2:15.8	These are the two companies that are responsible for making the weight loss drugs that you probably know about.
	...

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