November 7, 2025, 10:57 amNovember 7, 2025, 10:57 am
On Thursday, US President Donald Trump announced that weight loss injections and pills would become cheaper in the future. This thanks to agreements with the US pharmaceutical company Eli Lilly and the Danish manufacturer Novo Nordisk.
Donald Trump in the White House on Thursday.Image: keystone
According to government information, overweight US citizens currently have to spend more than 1,000 US dollars (870 euros) a month on weight-loss injections. According to the agreement, prices will drop to around $350 per month. Weight loss pills that are still being approved will cost $150 in the future, just under half as much as the injections.
As the US authorities explained, this step is primarily intended to help the population become healthier. Trump called the weight loss agreement a “triumph for American patients.” In the presence of representatives of the two pharmaceutical companies at the White House, he said that the agreement would “save lives and improve the health of millions upon millions of Americans.”
It sounded similar in a speech by Mehmet Oz, administrator of the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services in the USA. He explained in the White House how much weight loss they hoped to achieve through this measure:
“Our estimate, Mr. President, is that Americans will lose a total of 135 billion pounds by the midterms (in just under a year, editor’s note).”
How exactly Oz comes up with these numbers remains an open question. According to current figures, the USA currently has a population of almost 343 million people. To meet Oz’s prediction, each person would have to lose an average of 393 pounds in a year – a good 178 kilograms.
Mehmet Oz, Administrator of the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services in the USA.Image: keystone
Oz also explained that they don’t want to measure success in the form of pounds. “I measure it by lives saved,” he said. “People can sleep again because they can breathe when they go to sleep. People whose knees don’t hurt, people who don’t have heart attacks, kidney failure or dementia. All the things we know are also linked to obesity.” (dab)