Weight-loss drugs come for Fluffy and Fido

Unlock the Editor’s Digest for freeRoula Khalaf, Editor of the FT, selects her favorite tales on this weekly publication.The worldwide growth in weight-loss medicine has reshaped human medication, propelled pharmaceutical shares and redrawn expectations about persistent illness. Now drugmakers spy a brand new progress market within the US: portly pets.Individuals could fret over their waistlines, however their cats and canine are in even worse form. An estimated 60 per cent of the nation’s cats and canine are both chubby or overweight in accordance with a 2022 survey by the Affiliation for Pet Weight problems Prevention. Diabetes — as soon as uncommon in animals — is now among the many costliest persistent situations in veterinary apply.That is, in fact, a monetary alternative. Homeowners lavish extraordinary sums on their animals. Pet spending reached $183bn in 2023, almost 4 instances 2003 ranges, information from the Federal Reserve reveals. If semaglutide can shrink a human waistline, why not a feline one? A handful of companies consider that weight problems medication, which reworked human healthcare in only a few years, might change into a profitable veterinary class.Essentially the most formidable of those is Okava, a San Francisco start-up testing a GLP-1 drug — exenatide — delivered not by injection however by a miniature implant. Weekly injections could also be tolerable for people motivated by self-importance; persuading a household to jab a struggling cat is one other matter altogether. An extended-acting implant that requires solely two visits a yr to the vet might remedy the issue neatly.Okava launched its first medical trial, MEOW-1, earlier this month and hopes to finally market the therapy for as much as $200 a month. That’s steep, however not outlandish in a world the place “premium” pet meals price simply as a lot and elaborate veterinary insurance policy have change into mainstream middle-class indulgences.But the trail to animal-size income is much from clean. Okava is simply within the early-stage medical trial part of testing the drug. Life-style interventions comparable to eating regimen and train stay veterinarians’ most popular first step. And historical past gives warning. In 2007, Pfizer bought FDA approval for Slentrol, the primary prescription weight-loss drug for canine. After Pfizer spun off its Zoetis animal-health subsidiary, the remedy was discontinued due to restricted demand.The economics of veterinary weight problems could now be shifting. Diabetes look after an animal is dear and the method is laborious: twice-daily insulin injections, common glucose monitoring and frequent vet visits. If GLP-1-based therapies can forestall the illness or ship gentle circumstances into remission, house owners could embrace them to not self-discipline their pets’ diets however to keep away from far better prices later.For drugmakers, the attraction is much less sentimental. The human obesity-drug market could someday attain saturation; pet medication, against this, stays under-developed. The incentives are aligned: anxious house owners, rising persistent illness and a pharmacy sector hungry for brand spanking new revenue swimming pools. Pharma’s subsequent battleground, then, often is the living-room couch — and the overfed creature sprawled throughout it.pan.yuk@ft.com