STAT+: Once described as obesity medicines for ‘patients,’ GLP-1s are increasingly lifestyle drugs for ‘customers’

A STAT article by Elaine Chen examines how blockbuster GLP-1 drugs have transformed the lives of millions of people but are now undergoing a marketing makeover. Once promoted as tools to address obesity as a medical issue, the drugs are increasingly being seen and marketed as a way to look and feel better generally.

Novo Nordisk, the field's pioneer, has leaned into this shift in particular. In advertisements around the world, the company has used slogans such as 'Live lighter' and 'Summer Glow Up.' On its website, Novo no longer labels its treatment Wegovy as a 'weight management' drug or an 'anti-obesity' medicine, instead calling it a 'weight loss' drug. The company also now often refers to the people who take its drugs less as 'patients' and more as 'customers.'

This shift underscores the commercial evolution of GLP-1s from clinical obesity treatments toward consumer lifestyle products, a change that could reshape how the drugs are promoted, how users are viewed, and how access and coverage are debated.