Health
Ozempic, other weight-loss drugs may strengthen New Year's resolutions, experts say: Health goal 'boost'
New year, new motivation?
For 2024, some of the most common New Year’s resolutions include adopting fitness and diet regimens, plus losing weight, according to a Forbes survey.
As weight-loss medications like Ozempic and Wegovy peak in popularity, experts believe these meds could make it more likely that people stick with their resolutions.
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Galit Shokrian, a Los Angeles-based CEO and co-founder of the online weight loss program Trimly, agreed that the widespread use of GLP-1s will impact the way people approach New Year’s goals.
GLP-1 agonists, which include semaglutides, are medications that help to reduce blood sugar and aid in weight loss.
“Semaglutides are a total game-changer in New Year’s resolutions this year,” she told Fox News Digital.
As weight-loss medications like Ozempic and Wegovy peak in popularity moving into the New Year, semaglutide experts believe these meds could make it more likely that people will stick with their resolutions. (iStock; SEBASTIEN BOZON/AFP via Getty Images)
Millions of Americans make resolutions to lose weight each year — but 40% to 50% give up by the end of January, according to Shokrian.
“The introduction of semaglutide and tirzepatide treatments are finally allowing overweight women and men to not only lose the weight, but successfully keep it off,” she said.
(Tirzepatide, another GLP-1 medication, is sold under the brand name Mounjaro.)
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“They kickstart a new lifestyle for someone who needs a boost in getting to their health goals.”
Losing weight via medication “staves off future health complications, increases confidence, increases sex drive and allows patients to become more active,” Shokrian noted.
Galit Shokrian, co-founder and CEO of Trimly, said semaglutide and tyrzepatide treatments are “finally allowing overweight women and men to not only lose the weight, but successfully keep it off.” (Myles Pettengill III)
Colin Banas, M.D., M.H.A., Virginia-based chief medical officer at the medication data platform DrFirst, said in a statement to Fox News Digital that he’s “never seen a therapy adopted so quickly.”
He said, “Our research shows that 80% of Americans believe more people will take these drugs for weight loss in the future, most stating it will become the norm.”
Semaglutide medications have “transformed” lives, effecting “dramatic results” for people who previously had complications with weight loss, Banas added.
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Avantika Waring, 9amHealth’s chief medical officer and a trained physician and endocrinologist in San Francisco, noted that these previous complications have led to many failed resolutions.
“So many people make weight-loss resolutions for the New Year but find the months ahead to be challenging and frustrating because weight-loss and lifestyle changes are not easy to maintain,” she told Fox News Digital.
Wegovy is an injectable prescription weight-loss medicine that has helped people with obesity. (Michael Siluk/UCG/Universal Images Group via Getty Images)
With the aid of semaglutide and related drugs, Waring said people are seeing quicker success with their weight-loss efforts.
“I predict this will get them even more motivated to make resolutions and stick with them, because they’re more likely to see a real impact,” she said.
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Insurance plans, said the physician, often require a “demonstrated commitment to lifestyle change” in order for people to access these drugs.
“So it will be even more important to start with a firm commitment to a healthy lifestyle to ‘supercharge’ those New Year’s resolutions,” she said.
Colin Banas, Virginia-based chief medical officer at the medication data platform DrFirst, said he’s “never seen a therapy adopted so quickly.” (DrFirst)
Although semaglutide treatments are “quickly changing the paradigm” for how people approach weight loss, Banas said it’s important to remember that it is “not a magic wand.”
He added, “For sustained weight loss, people will still need to exercise and follow a healthy diet.”
“Semaglutide and tyrzepatide treatments are finally allowing overweight women and men to not only lose the weight, but successfully keep it off.”
A recent study by Morgan Stanley found that weekly exercise doubled — rising from 35% to 71% — after participants began taking weight-loss medication.
Teddy Savage, national lead trainer at Planet Fitness in Maryland, told Fox News Digital that he doesn’t foresee fitness motivation decreasing in 2024.
A Planet Fitness gym in New York is pictured on Nov. 2, 2023. Teddy Savage, national lead trainer at Planet Fitness, told Fox News Digital that he doesn’t foresee fitness motivation decreasing in the New Year. (Michael Nagle/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
“The COVID-19 pandemic opened people’s eyes to the importance of getting and staying healthy, so I’d say more people are making their health a priority,” he said.
“We always see more people committing to their fitness goals in the New Year, which is great,” he added. “We encourage everyone to start slow, set achievable goals and enjoy the journey.”
He also said, “It’s a marathon, not a sprint.”
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Despite the growing popularity and availability of weight-loss drugs, Savage said staying active should remain a priority.
“Physical activity is always a key ingredient to overall health and well-being, and we believe it’s important to prioritize fitness no matter the time of year,” he said.
A recent study by Morgan Stanley found that weekly exercise rose from 35% to 71% after participants began taking weight-loss medication. (iStock)
Savage also noted that mental health is just as important as physical health. “It’s not just how you look, it’s how you feel.”
Said Savage, “Regular exercise benefits your heart, muscles and body, but exercise also has immense mental health benefits. It can help you sleep better, feel less stressed, and ready to tackle all that 2024 brings.”
For optimal wellness, Savage said it’s important to have a “full-body workout consisting of both cardio and strength training while eating a balanced, nutritious diet.”
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From tracking sleep and steps to monitoring heart rate, temperature and stress levels, wearable devices like smartwatches and rings are growing in popularity as wellness tools.
Fox News’ Brian Kilmeade recently used one of these — an Oura ring — to track his metrics from the early morning hours through a demanding work schedule and reported the results live on “Fox & Friends.”
“I just got four hours and one minute [of sleep], but I have some REM sleep, 14%, over 20% of deep sleep. Feeling pretty good, I feel pretty fresh,” Kilmeade shared during his first early morning update, reviewing the stats from his ring.
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Throughout the day, the wearable tracked his physiological responses to various environments, from the stress of a live television broadcast to the physical exertion of a workout.
Wearable devices are changing cardiology’s landscape, helping detect conditions like atrial fibrillation early, a cardiologist said. (iStock)
Kilmeade observed the data in real time, noting, “You see the stress level spike just a little bit … as I make my way over to radio, my activity is going to pick up.”
By the end of his day, which included a trip to West Point and hours spent in a car, the device provided a summary of Kilmeade’s activity levels and heart rate stability.
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Dr. Craig Basman, a New Jersey cardiologist, joined the program to interpret the data and discuss the clinical implications of such technology.
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Basman immediately addressed Kilmeade’s limited rest. “Well, I don’t think you have to be a cardiologist to diagnose him with suboptimal sleep,” he said.
The cardiologist urged users to treat the data as a catalyst for lifestyle changes. (iStock)
However, the doctor highlighted the broader potential of these tools, explaining that “these wearable devices are changing the landscape of cardiology” and that “the future is bright, not just for preventative care … but also screening and detection of actual cardiovascular pathology.”
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The cardiologist urged users to treat the data as a catalyst for lifestyle changes, noting that he wouldn’t recommend detection tools unless you’re “going to do something about it.”
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Regarding the accuracy of the technology, Basman said there is “robust data” to suggest that the numbers are “incredibly accurate” for a lot of the metrics people are viewing, specifically data like resting heart rate and heart rate variability.
Wearable health tech like watches and rings can track sleep, heart rate and stress. (iStock)
He also mentioned that some devices can detect serious conditions like atrial fibrillation, which affects millions and can often go undetected during a standard physical exam.
For younger individuals, wearables can serve as a “great primary prevention tool,” according to the doctor, given that plaque can begin to develop in the arteries as early as the 20s and 30s.
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For the older population, the devices act more as a “screening tool for actual existing cardiac pathology,” he added.
Anyone concerned about wearable health data should consult a doctor for medical guidance.
In a sterile Bristol Myers Squibb lab about an hour north of Boston, scientists in scrubs and hairnets transfer living cells to a 2,000-liter stainless steel bioreactor that grows them for weeks. The goal is to produce proteins that are genetically engineered to attack cells that cause disease.
Tiny variations in heat, light or pH level can stop the cells from growing, causing drug shortages that endanger patients. Typically scientists would have to wait to see what went wrong during that fragile process, but now artificial intelligence is used to carefully monitor important variables — such as temperature and oxygen levels — and alert technicians if there are problems.
Every year the World Economic Forum and McKinsey recognize manufacturers that are on the cutting edge of technology, including artificial intelligence. This year, the Bristol Myers Squibb facility in Devens, Mass., was the only manufacturer in the United States that made the list of 23.
While American companies typically lead in artificial intelligence research and capital investment, U.S. manufacturers often struggle to translate those breakthroughs into productivity gains on the factory floor.
Of the 223 factories that have made the World Economic Forum’s Global Lighthouse Network list since 2018, 14 have been in the United States, while 99 are in China. Of the American ones, four are in the pharmaceutical and life sciences sector.
“China is scaling faster,” said Rahul Shahani, a partner at McKinsey who works with the World Economic Forum on the initiative. He added, “They have technologists in the factories — hundreds of them — while in the U.S. we’re competing for that same talent with Silicon Valley.”
Large American pharmaceutical companies have been a rare bright spot in the use of A.I. Many drugmakers, including Pfizer and Eli Lilly, are investing billions in A.I. and related technologies to accelerate drug discovery and streamline manufacturing. The trend coincides with President Trump’s demands that drugmakers produce more drugs on U.S. soil.
Scientists at the Devens facility use artificial intelligence to discover molecules that can target cancer and other diseases with greater precision. A.I. can comb through data sets from past experiments to identify possibilities that a human might not have considered. Researchers then test those molecules in the virtual world — a process referred to as “in silico.” Only the most promising are tested in a physical laboratory. The company can run multiple “in silico” experiments at a time.
“Drug discovery and bio-manufacturing are definitely areas where A.I. can have the most impact,” said Kyle Chan, a fellow at the Brookings Institution’s John L. Thornton China Center. “These are areas where A.I. has some of the largest advantages over previous approaches given the need to process and synthesize large, complex data sets.”
Still, there’s no guarantee that technological advantages will instantly equate to benefits for patients. The history of drug development is filled with failures, and it is unknown whether molecules identified by A.I. will pass muster in clinical trials.
The Bristol Myers Squibb facility sits on an 89-acre campus where buildings are decorated with portraits of cancer survivors..
Previously, scientists and technicians were never sure why some batches of cells produced a large amount of proteins, while others failed completely. But now A.I. uses information from past batches to identify what variables need to change. For example, if oxygen levels are lower than previous batches, the system will suggest that oxygen be added. If the pH levels are higher than previous batches, it will recommend a fix. It also makes suggestions about the best time to harvest the cells.
These innovations have boosted the volume of drugs produced for clinical trials and commercial use at the facility by about 40 percent, according to a company spokeswoman.
“We are able to now intervene in the batches during the manufacturing process and not have to wait until we get to the end,” said Karin Shanahan, executive vice president, chief supply chain and operations officer for the company.
These innovations have helped stabilize production of Orencia, a drug that treats autoimmune conditions such as rheumatoid arthritis using cells that are extremely difficult to grow. In 2024, manufacturing challenges resulted in a shortage in some parts of the world.
The company is just beginning to use A.I. in its manufacturing process of another drug, Breyanzi, which turns a cancer patient’s own white blood cells into a personalized therapy. Currently, the Devens plant is authorized by the Food and Drug Administration to produce treatments for just 12 patients at a time.
Ms. Shanahan said she hoped that eventually A.I. would increase production of the treatment, often viewed as a last resort for people with blood cancers such as leukemia.
Bristol Myers Squibb has embarked on a series of cost-cutting measures as the key patent for its cancer drug Opdivo expires in 2028. The drug, which uses proteins that have been genetically engineered to target cancer cells, generated more than $10 billion of the company’s $48 billion in revenue last year.
The company is trimming $2 billion in costs by the end of 2027 in addition to $1.5 billion in cuts announced in 2024. More than 1,000 positions are being eliminated, many of them at a research facility in Lawrenceville, N.J., heightening anxiety about A.I.’s taking jobs away in the sector.
At the Semafor World Economy summit last month, Bristol Myers Squibb’s chief executive, Chris Boerner, said the company had a responsibility to use A.I. to further its mission but acknowledged that it could adversely affect some employees.
“We are engaging with those employees to make them more marketable around this technology — with the company or elsewhere,” he said.
The facility in Devens, which was completed in 2009 at a cost of $750 million, wasn’t designed with A.I. in mind. As recently as 2020, employees used Excel spreadsheets for some tasks. Batch records that document every step of production were filled out by hand. But in recent years, the company has prioritized digitizing and automating its processes.
“We needed to make sure that we could formulate our products faster, that we could commercially scale them faster,” Ms. Shanahan said. “And so that’s really what forced us to start to go down that path.”
Overall the company aims to cut the time it takes to bring a drug to market to about six years, from nine, she said.
Other factories that received recognition from the World Economic Forum this year included Yueda Textile in Yancheng, China, which collects sensor data to detect machine maintenance issues before they occur, reducing costs; and Midea, a manufacturer of microwaves and air-conditioners in Thailand that uses A.I. to investigate customer complaints, generating recommendations for corrective action that cut resolution time from months to days.
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As investigations continue into the hantavirus outbreak that originated on the expedition cruise ship MV Hondius, concerns swirl about the prevalence of the virus in the U.S.
Among passengers of the ship, which was traveling from Argentina across the Atlantic, there have been three deaths and at least eight reported cases, several of them laboratory-confirmed, according to the World Health Organization and subsequent health reports.
At least five states are now monitoring residents who returned from the MV Hondius, including Texas, Virginia, Georgia, Arizona and California, reports have noted.
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In the U.S., there have historically been around 800 to 900 cases of hantavirus, according to Luis Marcos, M.D., professor of medicine and director of the Infectious Diseases Fellowship Program at Stony Brook Medicine in New York.
CDC data supports this, showing that 890 cases of hantavirus disease have been reported in the U.S. from 1993 through the end of 2023.
As investigations continue into the hantavirus outbreak that originated on the expedition cruise ship MV Hondius, concerns swirl about the virus’ prevalence in the U.S. (iStock)
“Most of these cases have been west of the Mississippi River, and classically the risk factors are being in contact with feces and urine from rodents,” Marcos told Fox News Digital.
The most common strain is called Sin Nombre, which is not transmitted from human to human, the doctor said.
“The transmission is not as efficient as other viruses.”
Most strains of hantavirus spread from inhaling contaminated particles from rodent urine, droppings or saliva – or, less commonly, from touching contaminated surfaces and then touching the mouth, nose or eyes – and are not transmitted person-to-person.
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Typical scenarios include people who have been camping or hiking in remote areas and were inadvertently in contact with these feces or urine.
“The only proven human-to-human transmission has been with the Andean virus from South America — and that’s what’s happening now,” Marcos told Fox News Digital.
Among passengers of the ship, which was traveling from Argentina across the Atlantic, there have been three deaths and at least eight reported cases, several of them laboratory-confirmed. (Getty Images)
The current cruise ship outbreak reportedly originated with a couple who contracted the virus while traveling in Argentina.
“They were not symptomatic at all — the incubation period can be one, two, three or four weeks,” Marcos said.
Most strains of hantavirus spread from inhaling contaminated particles from rodent urine, droppings or saliva. (iStock)
Most infected people become ill with symptoms that are similar to flu and COVID, such as fever and muscle pain.
“Some people may have mild disease, so not everybody will be very, very sick,” the doctor noted.
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In rare cases, hantavirus can lead to hantavirus pulmonary syndrome (HPS), which causes the lungs to fill with fluid and can be fatal, the doctor noted.
“The mortality rate [among those with HPS] is between 30% and 60% — so yes, it’s a deadly virus,” the doctor added.
In terms of transmission, Marcos emphasized that those at highest risk are the people in “close contact,” which typically means living in the same environment where fluids can be exchanged.
“The longest incubation period has been 56 days or so.”
“It has to be really, really close contact,” he said. “The transmission is not as efficient as other viruses.”
While it’s possible for the virus to be airborne via droplets, Marcos pointed out that those transmissions are “not as effective” as COVID, influenza or cold viruses.
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“For this cruise, it’s important to have people in quarantine for a period of time,” he said.
The virus has a long incubation period, which means the quarantine duration will likely be several weeks. “The longest incubation period has been 56 days or so, so two months, roughly,” Marcos said. “But most cases will get sick within two to three weeks.”
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There are not currently any antiviral treatments for hantavirus.
“So what happens is the patient will end up in the hospital. We will do supportive care, which means if your lungs are full of fluid, you will require a ventilator until you know the virus runs its course,” Marcos said.
“We will do supportive care, which means if your lungs are full of fluid, you will require a ventilator until you know the virus runs its course,” the doctor said. (iStock)
Although there is not currently a vaccine for hantavirus in the U.S., Marcos noted that several are in development.
The doctor said he believes the risk of hantavirus leading to a pandemic is “pretty much almost zero.”
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“I don’t feel a strong risk of a pandemic,” he told Fox News Digital. “The transmission is not like COVID. It’s very different.”
“I really think this is going to go away in the next two to three weeks, and we will know exactly the number of cases,” he added.
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To prevent hantavirus, Marcos recommends wearing gloves and a mask in environments where mice might be present, such as cleaning a basement.
Proper ventilation and frequent hand-washing can also help curb spread.
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