Tracking the obesity revolution. Plus, the 'Hispanic Paradox' and more Covid updates.

Happy Thursday! Ryan Fitzgerald and Alexander Bois-Spinelli here and we’re in disbelief that we’re already halfway through September! STAT had another eventful week of reporting, so let’s hop to it…?

Tracking the obesity revolution?

There are nearly 70 obesity treatments currently in development. Many companies are pursuing a similar mechanism used to make blockbuster drugs Wegovy and Mounjaro while others are going for entirely different approaches. Right now, pharma companies Eli Lilly and Novo Nordisk are leading the way in this market but they're also having difficulty keeping up with the demand. That leaves the door open for other options to try and out-blockbuster the competition.??

So how can you possibly keep up with the ever-growing market of weight loss medicines? STAT's new obesity tracker is your answer . The database provides a look at what new mechanisms could hit the market, how they would be taken and how often, and which companies are running the most trials.

The ‘Hispanic Paradox’

Is it true that Hispanic Americans live several years longer than white Americans on average, despite having far less income and health care and higher rates of diabetes and obesity? A new generation of researchers are determined to explain the ‘Hispanic Paradox,' using more comprehensive data, powerful genomic tools, and a rich cultural awareness of the communities they study.?

Covid updates

“Covid’s never going to be over. You need to set expectations accordingly. It is never going to be over.” - Jennifer Nuzzo, an epidemiologist and director of Brown University’s Pandemic Center

This week, our resident expert Helen Branswell confirmed that Covid’s new normal has set in. Covid is now like influenza, RSV, rhinoviruses, and a large number of other pathogens that will periodically increase in transmission activity and then decline, ceding the stage to something else that can make people cough, sneeze, run a fever, feel lousy, and sometimes require medical care and on occasion lead to death.

Thankfully, the FDA has approved updated Covid vaccines . Following the approval, a panel of advisers to the CDC voted 13-1 to recommend updated Covid-19 booster shots for all Americans 6 months and older.?

Now, looking at Covid through the lens of Washington, a groundbreaking clause in a new deal between the HHS and the pharmaceutical company Regeneron marks the first time the Biden administration has directly used its leverage to challenge drugmakers’ list prices.?

The contract between Regeneron and the government requires that the list price for a future monoclonal antibody drug to prevent Covid-19 is the same or lower in the United States as in other high-income countries.

Finally, Steven Phillips and Michelle A. Williams wrote a STAT First Opinion article stating that long Covid is a new name for an old syndrome. They write “The recognition that long Covid is the latest emergence of an old syndrome and not a de novo new entity, while no panacea, augurs a fundamental reset of every aspect of societal response. It reframes but does not change the facts.” Read their full story .?

Postpartum depression among immigrant laborers

Doctors at public clinics in the Santa Clara River Valley say that postpartum depression and anxiety appear rampant among their patients. Mental health experts say what’s happening in this corner of California is a natural consequence of the conditions in which immigrant laborers live throughout the U.S.?

One family physician working with immigrant laborers estimates that 80-90% of her patients suffer from postpartum depression, anxiety, or milder baby blues — and more than 50% are hurting enough that they ask her for help. New mothers are also finding it hard to get the mental health care they need.

Secrecy in the food industry?

The National Potato Council, the National Coffee Association, and the Bottled Water Association are making secret nominations to a panel of nutrition experts that has outsized influence on the American diet.?

STAT obtained this information via a Freedom of Information Act request and they reveal how the food industry aims to influence government bodies that regulate nutrition and health in the U.S.

“America’s potato growers are due an equal seat in a process that we trust will ensure all scientifically sound information is considered as recommendations are made,” the potato council wrote in a statement. (Ryan here, I found this especially amusing.)?

This is a story only our colleague Nicholas Florko could write.?

Big money in biotech?

Biotech startup Generate Biomedicines, which uses AI to find new drugs, raised $273 million in a Series C funding round from investors including pharma company Amgen and the VC arm of AI giant NVIDIA. Allison DeAngelis ’ biotech reporting shines once again.?

That's all we have today!

As always, feel free to DM us (Ryan and Alexander) and let us know your thoughts on our weekly newsletter!?

Join us next Thursday for another edition of "Weekly Update."?

If you enjoyed this news roundup, we suggest you subscribe to our flagship newsletter,?Morning Rounds , which lands in your inbox every weekday at 6 a.m. ET. You can also sign up for any and all of STAT’s other free newsletters here:?https://www.statnews.com/signup/