615. Is Ozempic as Magical as It Sounds?

In a wide-ranging conversation with Ezekiel Emanuel, the policymaking physician and medical gadfly, we discuss the massive effects of GLP-1 drugs like Ozempic, Wegovy, and Mounjaro. We also talk about the state of cancer care, mysteries in the gut microbiome, flaws in the U.S. healthcare system — and what a second Trump term means for healthcare policy.   SOURCES: Ezekiel Emanuel , vice provost for Global Initiatives, co-director of the Health Transformation Institute, and professor at the University of Pennsylvania Perelman School of Medicine.   RESOURCES: " Obesity Drugs Would Be Covered by Medicare and Medicaid Under Biden Proposal ," by Margot Sanger-Katz ( The New York Times, 2024). " International Coverage of GLP-1 Receptor Agonists: A Review and Ethical Analysis of Discordant Approaches ," by Johan L. Dellgren, and Govind Persad, and Ezekiel J. Emanuel ( The Lancet, 2024). The Coming Wave: Technology, Power, and the Twenty-first Century's Greatest Dilemma , by Mustafa Suleyman (2023). " The Significance of Blockbusters in the Pharmaceutical Industry ," by Alexander Schuhmacher, Markus Hinder, Nikolaj Boger, Dominik Hartl, and Oliver Gassmann ( Nature Reviews Drug Discovery, 2022). Reinventing American Health Care: How the Affordable Care Act Will Improve Our Terribly Complex, Blatantly Unjust, Outrageously Expensive, Grossly Inefficient, Error Prone System , by Ezekiel J. Emanuel (2014). " Why I Hope to Die at 75 ," by Ezekiel J. Emanuel ( The Atlantic , 2014). " Direct-to-Consumer Advertising of Pharmaceuticals ," by Ziad F. Gellad and Kenneth W. Lyles ( The American Journal of Medicine, 2014). Brothers Emanuel: A Memoir of an American Family , by Ezekiel J. Emanuel (2013). " Bounds in Competing Risks Models and the War on Cancer ," by Bo E. Honoré and Adriana Lleras-Muney ( Econometrica, 2006).   EXTRAS: " How to Fix Medical Research ," by People I (Mostly) Admire (2024). " The Suddenly Diplomatic Rahm Emanuel ," by Freakonomics Radio (2023). " Ari Emanuel Is Never Indifferent ," by Freakonomics Radio (2023). " Who Pays for Multimillion-Dollar Miracle Cures? " by Freakonomics, M.D. (2023). " Who Gets the Ventilator? " by Freakonomics Radio (2020). Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.