Lilly’s DTC Obesity Push, Layoffs, and an Eye on Ocular Diseases

Eli Lilly shook up the weight loss market again last week, announcing plans to sell single-dose vials of its blockbuster GLP-1 drug Zepbound directly to consumers. Meanwhile, Novo Nordisk said Monday that it expects the shortage for the lower doses of its own GLP-1 therapy Ozempic to persist into the fourth quarter of 2024. This week, we take a closer look at eyes, where gene therapy is breaking through against wet AMD, a common cause of blindness—potentially significantly minimizing the number of treatments required by patients—and cell therapy is making strides against another common foe: dry eye disease. Lastly, an unfortunate trend—layoffs—continues to play out, with BioMarin, Genentech and Astellas Gene Therapies all parting with staff members.