Will the Demand Fall for Obesity Drugs?

Obesity drugs are one of the three methods generally employed to fight obesity. And the obesity market is a huge market that may be worth more than 500 billion dollars in a few years. However, drugs that fight obesity, so far, have not been very successful. These drugs cause cardiovascular and mental problems. Moreover, the use of the drugs usually doesn’t lead to long-term weight loss. Therefore, some believe that the demand for obesity drugs may fall in coming years.

Experts in India have felt for some time that the demand for obesity drugs will be hampered by the failures associated with the drugs. Today, India experts believe that the obesity drug failures have already caused demand for the drugs to decline by 70%. Indeed, if the demand for these drugs is declining worldwide, it will be harder for drug makers to sell new drugs, even if the drugs safely lead to weight loss.

So, it is imperative that pharmaceutical companies engaged in obesity drug research concentrate on producing safe and effective weight loss drugs. Tesofensine and Qnexa are two obesity drugs, currently in the pipeline, showing promise, as we've mentioned in this blog before. Let's hope these drugs prove to be successful.

However, if they don't prove successful, this condition creates an opportunity for the other two areas of weight loss and weight management -- lifestyle modification and bariatric surgery. Efforts to enhance lifestyle modification methods are being studied. And minimally invasive weight loss surgical techniques are being developed.

So despite the obesity-drug pessimistic outlook, research is ongoing in all weight loss arenas that may improve our ability to fight the worldwide weight gain. And of course, weight loss facilities should be willing to play whatever role is necessary to enhance their ability to provide healthy weight loss programs.

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Tags: environmental scanning, strategic management, bariatric marketing, weight loss marketing, swot analysis