Larry Summers, president emeritus and professor at Harvard University, at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, on Tuesday, January 21, 2025.
Stefan Wermuth | Bloomberg | Getty Images
Miracle drug innovations — like the ones that sparked the meteoric rise of Wegovy and Zepbound — could come every couple of years thanks to new technologies, former U.S. Treasury Secretary Larry Summers predicted Tuesday.
Speaking to a World Economic Forum panel moderated by CNBC's Steve Sedgwick, Summers said the world is currently experiencing a “moment of incredible technological possibilities” that is driving unprecedented innovation.
“There has never been a moment when the technological possibilities before the world were as bright as they are today,” he said in Davos, Switzerland, touting developments in the green energy, computing and life sciences sectors.
“We're going to get to a world where we see something like Wegovy and semaglutides — a miracle drug, a new drug — every two years,” he said. “And I think AI will be to the Internet what the computer was to the calculator.”
Semaglutides – a class of drugs used to treat type 2 diabetes and obesity – have It becomes a weight loss phenomenon In recent years. It has driven the demand for the drug Huge commercial success For pharmaceutical giants including Novo Nordiskwhich manufactures semaglutides under the Wegovy and Ozempic brands, and Eli LillyWhich produces competitor Zepbound.
The medications have also been associated with additional improved health outcomes, with trial data suggesting a reduced risk of major cardiovascular disease drug.
OZEMPIC, WEGOVY and other weight loss drugs were seized at the JFK International Mail Facility.
CNBC
Summers suggested that these broad applications could be replicated across other drug groups and other medical conditions in the future.
Vas Narasimhan, CEO of the Swiss pharmaceutical company NovartisHe struck a more cautious tone about the outlook for such miracle drug combinations.
Referring specifically to the obesity drug group, Narasimhan said on Tuesday that although such innovations are “important”, they are unlikely to fully solve underlying health problems.
“They will definitely help a subset of patients significantly,” he told CNBC's Squawk Box Europe.
He added, “But the truth is that taking these medications throughout your life is a very heavy task, especially when they fall outside advanced health care systems,” noting that there is a need for a comprehensive “rethinking” of diets to combat obesity and diabetes. Associated health issues.
Novartis has so far stayed out of the increasingly competitive weight-loss drug market, telling CNBC last September that it had There are no plans to join the “madness.”
