KEY DETAILS
CNBC reports Walmart plans to cover Ozempic and Mounjaro at no cost for employees with Type 2 diabetes in 2027, after a new prior authorization.
MedPage Today reports no sustained or progressive change in anti-VEGF treatment over 24 months among patients with diabetic macular edema who started a GLP-1 agonist compared with those who did not.
Fool.com reports Lilly announced in July that retatrutide achieved average weight loss of 22.6% over 80 weeks in a Phase 3 trial, and that Lilly plans to submit it for FDA approval in the first quarter of 2027.
ABC 17 News, carrying a CNN report, says GLP-1 medications for weight loss and diabetes appear to slow the body's aging processes, a sign the drugs could ultimately help people live longer.
CBS News reports the FDA received reports in recent months that two people died after taking bootleg versions of an experimental weight-loss drug, though the details are unverified and it is unclear whether the drug was to blame.
Walmart confirmed to CNBC on Tuesday, October 13, that it plans to cover more than 250 prescriptions at no cost to its employees in 2027, including Ozempic and Mounjaro for people with Type 2 diabetes after a new prior authorization. CBS News reports the FDA has received reports that two people died after taking bootleg versions of the experimental drug retatrutide, though the details are unverified. And ABC 17 News reports that GLP-1 medications appear to slow the body's aging processes, a sign the drugs could ultimately help people live longer.
Walmart, the biggest private employer in the U.S., will offer Novo's diabetes injection Ozempic and Eli Lilly's rival shot Mounjaro without charge for people with Type 2 diabetes after a new prior authorization, CNBC reports. CNBC reports Walmart plans to cover more than 250 prescriptions, including some insulin, inhalers and GLP-1s for diabetes, at no cost to its employees in 2027. The company also said in a statement that it is minimizing premium increases for employees, raising rates for its starting plan by $1.50 per pay period to $39.80.
MedPage Today reports that over 24 months of follow-up, there was no sustained or progressive change in anti-VEGF treatment after patients started a GLP-1 agonist, compared with those who did not. The study retrospectively analyzed data for two propensity-matched groups of 9,896 patients with DME, according to MedPage Today. MedPage Today also reports that AION occurred at an average age of 62.98 among GLP-1 agonist users versus 66.45 among non-users. Among second-eye events, 37.5% occurred within 3 months in GLP-1 agonist users versus 22.5% in non-users, and 56.8% versus 40.6% within 6 months, the outlet reports.
Fool.com reports that Eli Lilly announced in July that retatrutide achieved average weight loss of 22.6% over 80 weeks in a Phase 3 trial involving patients with obesity and established cardiovascular disease. According to Fool.com, Lilly plans to submit retatrutide for FDA approval in the first quarter of 2027. The outlet notes Lilly will report third-quarter earnings on Oct. 29, with the market paying particularly close attention to sales of Mounjaro and Zepbound.
ABC 17 News, carrying a CNN report, says GLP-1 medications for weight loss and diabetes appear to slow the body's aging processes, a sign the drugs could ultimately help people live longer. The outlet reports that studies have found GLP-1 drugs improve the health of many different parts of the body, lowering the risk of heart, kidney and liver disease and reducing sleep apnea and inflammation. ABC 17 News also reports that Duffin presented new data from Lilly's Surmount V trial, which randomly assigned more than 700 adults who were overweight but did not have diabetes to use either tirzepatide or semaglutide for 72 weeks, and that across different types of epigenetic clocks researchers saw an average change of between 1.1 and 0.7 years in biological aging. The outlet reports that by measuring changes to proteins in people using semaglutide, the company's scientists found it reduced the heart's biological age by two to four years compared with a placebo, and reduced the age of organs such as the lung, kidney, brain and pancreas by one to four years.
CBS News reports the FDA received reports in recent months that two people died after taking bootleg versions of an experimental weight-loss drug. According to CBS News, the first death reportedly occurred in July, when a healthcare professional told the FDA that a 41-year-old woman with obesity went into cardiac arrest. CBS News also reports that in September, the FDA received a report that a 49-year-old patient died after a licensed nurse convinced her to buy retatrutide from an online peptide vendor, and that she experienced severe dehydration, malnutrition and cardiac arrest. The outlet notes the cases appear to be the first public accounts in the U.S. alleging that unauthorized use of retatrutide, or products claiming to contain it, played a role in a patient's death, though the details aren't verified and it is unclear whether the drug was to blame.
You can find the full details on Walmart's benefit changes at CNBC, the eye-injection study at MedPage Today, the retatrutide trial results at Fool.com, the aging research at ABC 17 News, and the bootleg drug reports at CBS News.
Originally published on GLP-1 Nation.
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