Visualizing The Growth Of The Weight-Loss-Drug Market

Think everyone and their cousin is already on Ozempic? And surely everyone can stop talking about it now?

Think again.

The weight-loss drug market still has a lot of room to grow, according to latest estimates by Morgan Stanley Research.

Visual Capitalits’s Marcus Lu visualizes their forecasted value of the global obesity drug market till 2030 and go into a few reasons to explain why it’s trending upwards.

A Tide of Weight Management Drugs Are Coming

Morgan Stanley expects the weight-loss drug market to be worth $77 billion by 2030, more than 5x what it is in 2024.

A key part of this is the broadening utility of these medicines. After all, semaglutide, the key ingredient in drugs like Ozempic, WeGovy and Rybelsus was initially developed for diabetes management.

Its appetite suppressant abilities put it on the weight-loss market. But weight management also lowers the risk of heart attacks and strokes, it could be prescribed for many related issues.

Meanwhile, viral social media promotion of before-and-after results creates a feedback loop, in turn increasing demand. And finally in the U.S., there is a concerted push to expand coverage for these drugs which can cost upwards of $900 a dose without insurance.

In fact, Morgan Stanley estimates that the current market value is restrained by supply, and as new players enter and regulations change, it will be able to grow to keep pace with demand.

The majority of obesity management drug revenue comes from the U.S., though its share of the global total is expected to decrease throughout this decade to 66% in 2030.

Currently the WHO estimates obesity causes 5% of deaths every year, and afflicts close to 750 million people, or about 9% of the world’s population.

Wondering why American demand for obesity drugs is so high? Check out Mapped: Countries with the Highest Obesity Rates to find out.