• District of Columbia: According to a new study published in the Journal of the American College of Cardiology, people who took Wegovy during a clinical trial that took place during the COVID-19 pandemic were less likely to die from the coronavirus. The clinical trial had 17,694 patients who were diagnosed with heart disease. Of these patients, 4,258 were infected with COVID-19, with around half taking Wegovy and the other half taking a placebo. Among the patients who were infected, 184 died, of which, 106 took the placebo and 78 took Wegovy. Overall, the risk of dying from COVID-19 decreased by 33% among those who were taking Wegovy. "[R]epurposed research like the SELECT trial can yield less obvious insights, including the notion that semaglutide (and others like it) could have dramatically improved outcomes of a pandemic caused by a respiratory virus, of all things," said Jeremy Faust, an ED physician at Brigham and Women's Hospital who wrote an accompanying editorial. Faust also called the study data "stunning" and said that GLP-1 drugs "are repeatedly and routinely demonstrating that they are game changers." (Irwin, The Hill, 8/30; Kolata, New York Times, 8/30)
• Kentucky: Humana is planning to leave 13 Medicare Advantage (MA) markets and will offer fewer plans in certain areas next year, according to the company's CFO Susan Diamond. Overall, around 560,000 members, or 10% of the organization's individual MA membership base, will have to find new plans next year. However, the company said it expects around half of the impacted members to choose new Humana plans. "The exit itself is positive in the sense that those plans were not contributing," Diamond said. "And so just exiting, even if we don't retain the members, is positive. If we do ultimately retain more of those members, that’s incrementally positive because the plan choices left behind are priced in a way that will be positively contributing." (Berryman, Modern Healthcare, 9/4; Tong, Fierce Healthcare, 9/4)
• Maryland: Last month, HHS' National Toxicology Program released a report that found that drinking water with more than 1.5 milligrams of fluoride per liter is associated with lower IQ in children. According to Newsweek, 1.5 milligrams is more than twice the recommended fluoridation level of 0.7 milligrams per liter of water set by federal health officials in 2015. Currently, around 0.6% of the U.S. population is using water systems that naturally have fluoride levels of 1.5 milligrams or more. Ashley Malin, a researcher at the University of Florida, said that the report "is crucial to in our understanding" of the risk of high levels of fluoride. "The findings from this report raise the questions about how [pregnant individuals] can be protected and what makes the most sense," Malin said. (Venegas/Jackson, Newsweek, 8/23)

The weight management medication market is facing a crucial turning point. Learn about the five game-changing moments that will affect the use of GLP-1s for weight loss — from expanded indications to Medicare coverage — and find out what stakeholders should do now to prepare for the future.