Wonder Drug? The GLP-1 Story · Episode 5 of 6 · 21 min
The Great American Experiment
By 2026 roughly one in eight American adults takes a GLP-1 drug. The action is at the edges: off-label uses, a telehealth and compounding gray market that surged and partly collapsed, a chaotic price war, and a pipeline testing the drugs against hundreds of conditions. It is a vast experiment outrunning the systems meant to govern it.
Where it happens
- India+2 more episodesSemaglutide patent expired in March 2026, launching low-cost generics
- Canada+2 more episodesHealth Canada approved generic semaglutide in 2026, a G7 first
Timeline
- 2003Medicare Modernization Act excludes weight-loss drugs from Part D coverage
- December 19, 2024FDA removes tirzepatide from the shortage list
- February 21, 2025FDA removes semaglutide from the shortage list, starting the compounding wind-down
- June 23, 2025Novo Nordisk ends its deal with Hims & Hers over alleged illegal mass compounding
- November 6, 2025"TrumpRx" price deals announced with Novo Nordisk and Eli Lilly
- July 1, 2026CMS Medicare GLP-1 Bridge demonstration begins
Still debated
Clinicians say there is no rigorous evidence that microdosing helps with longevity or anything else. Whether the announced price deals will deliver, and how large the gray market remains, are also open.
