How the Cookie Crumbles

Is Ozempic going to eat big food’s lunch? For decades, the food industry has had Americans eating out of the palm of their hands. But new and wildly popular obesity drugs that suppress appetites could change the balance of power. Maybe investment analysts are biting off more than they can chew when it comes to predicting this trend and they’ll end up eating their words, but for now, they’re worried about food and beverage stocks. Here’s the bottom line: Appetite suppressing drugs are selling like hotcakes, which means that hotcakes aren’t. It’s early, so I’d take all of this with a grain of salt (if you’ve still got the appetite for a meal that size). Bloomberg (Gift Article): Ozempic Threat Is Causing a Selloff in Candy and Beer Stocks. Walmart “said it’s already seeing an impact on shopping demand from people taking Ozempic, Wegovy and other appetite-suppressing medications. That sent shares of food and beverage companies sliding, some to multiyear lows.” Are we ready to live in a world where the answer to the age-old question, “Do you want fries with that?” is No?

+ Nothing is definitive yet, but these numbers are enough to whet one’s appetite: “The increasingly popular drugs generally work by reducing patients’ appetites. With 1.7% of America’s population prescribed a semaglutide drug in 2023 — up 40-fold in the past five years — that could spell serious trouble for the food industry.” Ozempic is on the rise. That could be a problem for food companies.

+ Axios: How weight loss drugs like Ozempic could radically reshape the food business. (I just it doesn’t reshape Fat Bear Week.)