Could Ozempic Harm These 3 Medical Device Stocks?
Ozempic, Novo Nordisk's (NYSE: NVO) blockbuster drug for type 2 diabetes, is having all sorts of unexpected impacts on the healthcare sector. With the help of similar medicines made by Eli Lilly (NYSE: LLY), and expanded labels that allow the two companies to market formulations of those products for obesity, everyone from big pharmas to medical device manufacturers is trying to plan for a future in which it's easier for patients to lose weight.
That's great for patients, with weight loss hopefully being an easier goal to attain than before. But because many different health risks are exacerbated by being overweight, there are a lot of downstream product segments which could see contracting demand. Let's take a look at a trio of big medical technology businesses, and at what their management teams have said about this issue so far.
In theory, if the population's rate of obesity drops, the incidence of cardiometabolic disease will drop too. As Novo Nordisk's Ozempic and Eli Lilly's Mounjaro have been proven in clinical trials both to reduce weight and to directly reduce cardiovascular risks, on a long enough timescale the drugs may indeed lead to less demand for all sorts of interventions. Given that these medicines are relatively new to the scene, the question to answer is when there might be an impact on businesses that compete in segments related to cardiovascular interventions.
Source Fool.com
