New obesity drugs are in the works trying to out-blockbuster Wegovy and Mounjaro

The exploding popularity of drugs like Wegovy and Mounjaro has propelled dozens of companies to develop their own obesity treatments, with most of them trying to emulate the same approach as the blockbuster products. Nearly 70 obesity treatments are in development, according to the STAT Obesity Drug Tracker, a new database compiled by STAT. Read more.

By Allison DeAngelis and Elaine Chen

Thumy Phan for STAT

The 'Hispanic Paradox' intrigues a new generation of researchers determined to unravel it

For 40 years, researchers have unsuccessfully tried to explain — or debunk — the "Hispanic Paradox," the finding that Hispanic Americans live several years longer than white Americans on average, despite having far less income and health care and higher rates of diabetes and obesity. Now, with more data, powerful genomic tools, and a rich cultural awareness of the communities they study, a new generation of scientists is finally making headway. Read more.

By Usha Lee McFarling

Alex Hogan/STAT

The food industry has tried to stack a key nutrition policy panel with its preferred experts, documents show

The food industry has worked hard to get friendly researchers a panel that has outsize influence on the American diet, new documents obtained by STAT show. The National Potato Council, for example, nominated one of the researchers behind an industry-funded study showing eating french fries each day doesn't result in more weight gain than eating a comparable amount of almonds. Read more.

By Nicholas Florko

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