Off the Scales
The Inside Story of Ozempic and the Race to Cure Obesity
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- $13.99
Publisher Description
The inside story of the race to develop Ozempic – the world’s first truly effective and safe obesity drug – and its potentially revolutionary effects on public health, and our deeper culture and values.
'ENLIGHTENING' Publishers Weekly
A ‘cure’ for obesity has long evaded the pharmaceutical industry, until the development of Ozempic: a diabetes medication that targets the GLP-1 hormone and makes people feel fuller for longer.
After decades of research, Ozempic’s creator Novo Nordisk quickly became one of the most valuable companies in Europe. Now it struggles to keep up with its rivals in an explosive and lucrative market for weight-loss injections. The treatment is so effective that it’s already disrupted industries from healthcare to fast food to fashion. Financial investment has skyrocketed and public demand continues to soar alongside celebrity endorsements. Beyond million-dollar profits, countless lives could now be saved from preventable diseases, but one question remains: are these drugs too good to be true?
Through original reporting and rigorous research, Aimee Donnellan uncovers the complicated history of a medical breakthrough that is changing the world, while raising difficult questions about inequality, morality, our beauty ideals and the pursuit of thinness. Along the way, Donnellan profiles the female scientist whose contributions to the discovery of GLP-1 were overlooked and some of the earliest Ozempic users share powerful testimonies.
Off the Scales is a revelatory, gripping and urgent study of the unexpected consequences of finally getting what we’ve wanted for so long.
'The definitive account of a singular global force – essential reading to help us understand what has been unleashed and what may be coming next' Andy Slavitt, author of Preventable
'A riveting and impeccably researched deep-dive into the murky world of drug development' Josie Cox, author of Women Money Power
'Donnellan captures the drama behind the science … and explores the wider implications for society, health and business in this deeply researched book' John Collingridge, Guardian business editor
About the author
Aimee Donnellan is a columnist at Reuters, where her reporting has focused on the pharmaceutical, airline, and insurance industries since 2017. Previously she was the Sunday Times banking correspondent, and covered the bond market for the International Financing Review. She holds degrees in English and History from the University of Galway and in journalism from the London School of Journalism. She lives in Galway with her wife and two children. Off the Scales is her first book.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
This enlightening debut history of Ozempic and its societal impact from Reuters columnist Donnellan opens with one woman's "exciting but also depressing" experience of receiving a promotion, multiple raises, and increased attention after losing 70 pounds on the drug. Donnellan then traces, against the backdrop of the growing obesity crisis, the "nearly four decades" of research that led to the groundbreaking discovery of GLP-1 and its development as a drug. The "gut hormone seemed to have magical properties for controlling blood sugar," Donnellan writes, and kicked off a pharmaceutical arms race and "bitter competition" before its first appearance on the market in 2018. The author also shares poignant stories of ways the drug has transformed people's lives for good or ill, from quieting a nagging obsession with food to giving one user life-altering gastric paralysis (she vomited "two hundred times per week"). Balancing these diverging experiences, as well as the numerous sociocultural issues the drug raises, such as its undermining of the body positivity movement and its inequitable distribution ("over $1,300 for a twenty-eight-day supply"), Donnellan cogently sizes up its future potential: GLP-1 could lead to a healthier population empowered to demand healthier foods and living conditions, or it could further expand the gulf between rich and poor. It makes for an astute, fair-minded primer on the drug.
