Goldman Sachs (GS) estimates that weight-loss and diabetes drugs like Ozempic, Wegovy, and Mounjaro could reach 15 million patients by 2030. Of the three medications, only Novo Nordisk's (NVO) Wegovy is specifically approved for weight loss, though all three have demonstrated significant weight-loss benefits fueling their popularity. However, broader uptake is currently limited by insurance coverage restrictions and production constraints causing shortages.

Yahoo Finance's Anjalee Khemlani and Brooke DiPalma explore the surging popularity of diabetes drugs for their weight-loss side effects, discussing how these medications could impact the fast food and restaurant industries given the drugs' appetite-suppressing qualities.

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Video Transcript

JULIE HYMAN: Weight loss and diabetes drugs have captured Wall Street's imagination of late. Goldman Sachs projects these drugs could serve 15 million people by 2030. But what does the demand picture actually look like for all of the hype out there? We have been talking about this a lot, and Yahoo Finance's Anjalee Khemlani and Brooke DiPalma have been digging into it. Anjalee, let's start with you. So where do we stand right now with usage of these drugs?

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ANJALEE KHEMLANI: Well, let's start off actually with just what they do, right? We know that they are weight-loss and diabetes drugs. Majority of the drugs out there of the three Novo Nordisk's Ozempic and Eli Lilly's Mounjaro are actually diabetes drugs, and only Novo Nordisk's Wegovy is actually approved for weight loss. But what does that all mean of these new formulas of GLP 1s? That's what they're called. They actually have just been really spectacular at providing record weight loss, and that's why they are so popular.

As you can see on your screen, Ozempic really taking the lead there with $3.1 billion alone for the last quarter. Meanwhile, Wegovy over a billion, and Mounjaro just getting to that billion mark, making them already blockbuster drugs. And this is just for use in about 1% of the population. Novo Nordisk's data does show that a majority of the users are still diabetes users.

So even though we're hearing so much about what the potential is for weight loss, it is still being used by largely diabetes population in large part because of the, you know, restrictions on insurance, the fact that there's production issues, so there's a shortage. So all of these are creating barriers essentially for broader uptake, and so that's sort of where things stand right now. It's not the frenzy that you're necessarily hearing but more of a slow ramp up, if you will.