Employers drop coverage for obesity drugs as pharma’s DTC programs grow

Taking stock of the drug industry, from the lab to the medicine chest

December 18, 2025 Check out STAT+

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By Ed Silverman Pharmalot Columnist, Senior Writer

Adobe STAT+ | Employers drop coverage for weight loss drugs as pharma's direct-to-consumer programs grow Cash-pay prices for Wegovy and Zepbound, touted as discounts, will remain unaffordable for many workers who can't use insurance coverage to get access. By Elaine Chen STAT+ | Eli Lilly's obesity pill helped patients maintain weight loss after switch from injections The drug, orforglipron, showed it could help patients who lost weight on injectable drugs maintain the losses. By Elaine Chen Biotech's year in review STAT reporters chat with Atlas Venture's Bruce Booth about the state of the biotech industry going into the new year. By Allison DeAngelis, Elaine Chen, and Adam Feuerstein Hyacinth Empinado/STAT STAT+ | The Worst Biopharma CEO of 2025 made decisions with tragic consequences Ingram has taken on unnecessary risks for Duchenne patients, and hasn't served biotech investors well either. By Adam Feuerstein Opinion: We crunched the numbers on drug discovery in the U.S. vs. China. The results were alarming Federal policy and priorities are kneecapping the historical American engines of innovation, to China's benefit. By Michael Kinch and Kevin Gardner

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