With Eli Lilly’s Zepbound set to enter the fray, companies are flooded with questions about the effect of weight-loss drugs
That’s the message from many corporate executives who have lately been peppered with questions about how Wegovy , Ozempic and other drugs widely used for weight loss may impact their bottom line .
One company even opened its earnings call by asking analysts to please shut up already about the GLP-1s. “I’m aware that there is with GLP-1s one dominant topic in healthcare research overall,” Dominik Heger, head of investor relations at dialysis company Fresenius Medical Care AG & Co. FMS, -0.44%, said near the start of the company’s call. “But we would appreciate if we could focus in this call on the quarterly business developments.
Facing GLP-1 questions on earnings calls in recent weeks, executives have turned to a few popular defenses. Many, like Anheuser-Busch’s Doukeris, say their products are relatively healthy, so they’re not threatened by the GLP-1 craze. What’s more, many executives say, the whole issue is overhyped because relatively few people currently take these medications, and there’s not enough data to show how the drugs might affect consumer behavior over the long term.
At PepsiCo Inc. PEP, -0.10%, the maker of Tostitos, Doritos and other snacks, CEO Ramon Laguarta also responded to an analyst’s question about GLP-1s on the company’s October earnings call by emphasizing the company’s efforts to make its products healthier. Over the past five or six years, he said, the company has cut sodium, fat and sugar and trimmed portion sizes. So far, he said, the impact of the drugs “is negligible in our business.
Some companies have emphasized that there’s not enough data yet to draw any conclusions about the drugs’ impact. “We’ve spent a lot of time digging into the most robust data that’s available,” Keurig Dr Pepper Inc. KDP, +0.21% CEO Robert Gamgort said in response to a GLP-1 question on the company’s October earnings call. The data “is really limited at this point,” he said. Even so, he added, “in the beverage industry, I really think that there is little to be concerned about here.
Medical-device makers, whose stocks in some cases have suffered more direct hits from GLP-1 anxieties, have fired back with more data-driven arguments. At Teleflex Inc. TFX, -0.71%, products that have potential direct exposure to increased use of GLP-1 drugs account for about 1% to 2% of the company’s total revenues, CEO Liam Kelly said on the company’s early November earnings call.
Wegovy Ozempic Weight Loss Drugs Corporate Executives Bottom Line Earnings Calls Anheuser-Busch Inbev Abbott Laboratories
United States Latest News, United States Headlines
Similar News:You can also read news stories similar to this one that we have collected from other news sources.
Three charged with running 'high-end brothel' that catered to elected officials, other wealthy clientsAuthorities believe the brothel catered to politicians, corporate executives, military officers, professors and other elite clientele.
Read more »
Philadelphia bus terminal relocated to address passengers' concerns, alleviate congestionThe city believes the move will address the passengers' concerns over safety.
Read more »
Zuckerberg ‘ignored’ executives on kids’ safety, unredacted lawsuit allegesMeta CEO Mark Zuckerberg “ignored” top executives who called for bolder actions and more resources to protect users, especially kids and teens, even as the company faced mounting scrutiny over its safety practices, a newly unredacted legal complaint alleges.
Read more »
‘High-end brothel’ serving politicians and executives busted, feds sayThe client list, which could number in the hundreds, included elected officials, business executives, professors and military officers, according to prosecutors.
Read more »
Don’t Let Your Corporate Purpose Get Lost in the Daily GrindWhen leaders establish a clear line connecting individual jobs to an organizational purpose, it enables everyone to see their part in the larger whole. In their work on purpose activation with more than 150 firms, the authors have developed three strategies to help employees maintain that connection.
Read more »