Send us Fan Mail GLP-1 drugs have produced some of the most consistent weight loss results medicine has ever seen. The business of actually getting them to patients is a different story entirely. David E. Williams, President of Health Business Group, and John Driscoll, Chairman of UConn Health, break down the CVS Caremark formulary reversal on CareTalk, examining what it reveals about the economics of GLP-1 coverage, and why emerging clinical research on cancer, long COVID, and addiction may push these drugs far beyond their original indication. 🎙️⚕️ABOUT CARETALK CareTalk is a weekly podcast that provides an incisive, no B.S. view of the US healthcare industry. Join co-hosts John Driscoll (President U.S. Healthcare and EVP, Walgreens Boots Alliance) and David Williams (President, Health Business Group) as they debate the latest in US healthcare news, business and policy. ✨THIS VIDEO BROUGHT YOU BY: At PIM Health, we’re building real-time payment infrastructure where providers don’t wait weeks to get paid, patients don’t leave without knowing exactly what they owe, and employers stop flying blind on their own plan spend. AR burden, gone. Surprise bills, gone. Prior auth delays, gone. Denials and appeals, gone. Learn what we’re building here GET IN TOUCH Follow CareTalk on LinkedIn Become a CareTalk sponsor Guest appearance requests Visit us on the web Support the show ⚙️CareTalk: Healthcare. Unfiltered. is produced by Grippi Media Digital Marketing Consulting.

The Business & Science Behind the GLP-1 Boom

CareTalk: Healthcare. Unfiltered.

# Full Transcript

**Podcast:** CareTalk: Healthcare. Unfiltered.

## Transcript

CVS Caremark is restoring coverage of Zepbound, reversing a formulary decision from last summer that saved employers money but prompted patient anger and a class action lawsuit. It's a useful window into how GLP-1 coverage is decided. We're going to also talk about the compounding market, the rise of micro dosing, and the latest clinical research on GLP-1s in cancer, long COVID, and beyond.

Welcome to CareTalk, America's home for an incisive debate about healthcare business and policy. I'm David Williams, president of Health Business Group. And I'm John Driscoll, the chairman of UConn Health. David, this is a great topic. Everybody's taking these drugs and they seem to be miracle drugs.

How could CVS CareMark have the chutzpah to actually say no when the rest of America, and apparently the clinical establishment, is saying yes? Well, John, I didn't know if you're going to go with Yiddish. I thought maybe you'd say temerity. There's a lot of words that, you know, it could be done there. I mean, what happens, I think, is that on the one hand, these drugs are great.

On the other hand, you know, you're supposed to be managing the pharmacy benefit, which means just not just saying yes to everything and paying all this money. And so they said, hey, you've got drugs that work. Well, if you've got a BBM, it isn't about saying no to everything either. I mean, come on. It isn't. So how could they do it? I mean, I think what happened is you had two drugs that were really great and they saw a big financial opportunity. And they said, let's actually go for it. It was a little bit of a head scratcher for me, John, even at the time that they did it.

Even for an expert like you? Yeah, because they don't usually like to say no. Like you said, especially if they're because there are differences between the between the products. But, you know, it basically aren't they all the same? I'm not a physician. I'm not a physician. But no, they show different. They show different results in trials. And when they are on your are the doctors who we do consult.

What's interesting about the GLP ones as a category is they do appear to have, although generally the same opportunities for weight reduction and all the other corollary stuff that that appears to be going well. And some of the similar clinical challenges that they do seem to the different chemical composition appears to have slightly different results.

But as a category, Dave, wasn't the miss here that they didn't embrace it? Because, gosh, this seems to be the seems to be pretty remarkable drugs. I don't know, John. So, I mean, I actually want to let's dwell on the financial aspect a little bit more, because the other thing that we're seeing is whether people bring on coverage because it seems like, well, it's a it's a drug that's going to help somebody. And it's also maybe going to save money and even in the near term. But then on...

The Business & Science Behind the GLP-1 Boom

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The Business & Science Behind the GLP-1 Boom

Transcript

Built for investment professionals

Every day you wait, your competitors are findingedge in conversations you're not hearing.

Every day you wait, your competitors are finding
edge in conversations you're not hearing.