The Ben and Emil Show - PP Episode 9: Is Obesity Over? | Big Pharma's Fat Profits Come At A Cost

Episode Date: August 17, 2023

The obesity market is big business. The makers of so-called "miracle" obesity and diabetes treatments like Mounjaro and Ozempic stand to make hundreds of BILLIONS of dollars over the next decade if they're further approved by the FDA and widely prescribed. Investors are already picking the winners as Eli Lilly has quickly become the most valuable healthcare company at a whopping $500 billion dollars. Will congress get on board and approve these treatments under Medicare? Will private insurance cover them? How will these drugs affect other industries like fast food? And how safe are they? Plus, we delve into the dirty details of Dave Portnoy and Barstool getting offloaded by Penn Gaming, which pisses Ben off. Get bonus content on Patreon Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

So wait right off the bat what come down you're scaring me what I want to tell the people about oh the London show oh London Bridge is falling down London Bridge is fine but tiny bridge by the way yeah build a bigger bridge they make such a big deal out of it it's just like oh we it's like a little bit from here to here boom done okay focus okay what a about London. London show. We're about, I think we're about like 90% sold out. So if you want to go, get your ticket now. Also,

by the time this comes out, I don't know how many tickets will be left. We'll be, we're going to be blasting it out on social media. So, yeah, I don't know.

If you see this, go, September 4th. Yep, September 4th at Leicester. Lester Square Theater. The link will be in the description. And if you haven't been

following us on social media, that's where we've been posting about the thing. But we'll also post the link below here if you want to come see us. It's the famous Ben and Emile Live show, London Edition. And now we can actually illegally call it whatever we want. So maybe next one will be called Paypeaks Live. Who knows?

I kind of like Ben and Amiel Live. Yeah, that's true. Me too. I've grown attached to it. Yeah. So we talked about, whoa, what's going on with this crunch bar? It's melted in the middle or something. We talked about Mr. Beast last week, and we thought we would get some of his rinky dinkle chocolate bars to try.

I got to say, so we're going to be trying them in today's bonus episode. Right. So if you want to be, if you want to see us puke or whatever's going to happen. If you want to see Ben get diarrhea, if you want to see another thing get added to Ben's list of things that give him diarrhea. Also, because we're going to be doing a live review of Mr. Beets, Mr. Beats. Humiliating. God. Let's just start over.

I'm going to start my own feastables and I'm going to be Mr. Beats and it's going to be all. No, but you can't call it Feastables unless you'd call it F-E-E-S-T. It'll be Beetzables. Jesus, God. And it's going to be all healthy stuff and we're going to drive feastables into the ground. We're coming for you, Jimmy. We're going to spread rumors that these definitely gave me diarrhea. Well, we'll see in the bonus.

Yeah, we'll see if it gives me. do that that's a patreon.com slash paypix pod also in the description box and in other news in case you can't tell i got a cop haircut you did got to get a copy haircut well i just told him hey just make it all short this time i don't give a shit and he he my guy made it all short and now i i feel like i look like i feel like i look like steve's on in not blue streak no you know you you know who you look like? What? The guy in Super Troopers with the mustache.

Super Troopers. Um, mustache. Well, I guess a lot of them have mustache. Yeah, they pretty much all have mustache. But I think it's Kevin, Kevin, no, no, no, I forget. Yeah, I know who you're talking about. This one. This guy right there.

Yeah, yeah, I get it. Okay. For the audio listener, I look like a cop right now because I have a mustache and my hair is really short, but I think that I look like Steve Zon and, in this cop movie. Where is it? Yeah. National Security.

I mean. Wow, you do kind of. Yeah. You don't quite have that haircut, though. Yeah, pretty good. It was pretty good. I mean, it's pretty close. Yeah.

I love Steve's on. He's great. He's just, he's a, he is a national treasure. He seems to be living a quiet life, which I like when famous people do and just enjoying himself.

He was posting, I think it was during the pandemic, posting videos of him and his daughter just kind of dancing on their farm. And I said, good for you. He's got a farm. It seemed like it. I also like him because his last name is one letter away from mine, last name.

Kahn's on. We're practically related. Kahn's on. I always like to think between him and who is that actor who died, Kahn. Michael Kahn, no. James Kahn. And then Carl I Kahn, I feel like they're all family members who were just like, let's get the fuck away from C.A.

chin because this name sucks and it's cursed and then they're all successful because they changed the name so maybe you should change your name no I'm hoping to buck the trend hoping to be the outlier con who who makes it happen so keep watching this space keep watching the space can I tell you a quick story about how I got big I got big dicked at a party this weekend you damn who'd you hook up with you know big dick like yeah like you had sex with Someone with a big dick. I mean, you got to be careful with how you phrase things. Who'd you get dick down by?

I didn't say that. You said you got, I think I remember you saying, maybe we can roll the tape back where he said I got big dick down. You got big dicked. Okay. Who big dicked you? Was that a party? Okay.

What was the occasion? A baby shower. Baby shower. Okay. My friend is talking to someone. I think I had met him once before. Uh-huh. and he had this great shirt on.

Noticed it right when he came in. I was like, that's a great shirt. And then when he comes over and talks to her, I was going to say something, but I heard her say, I love this shirt. Where's it from? And he said,

oh, I don't even know. My mom said it to me, and I said, that's a crazy answer. What do you mean? You must know where it came from, even if your mom sent it to you. Yeah, that's sure you would see the tag. We're all talking for a bit.

And then he's like, I got to go or whatever. And I said, do you know what? It's going to eat me up inside. So I said, I'm sorry. I like the shirt. Can I just? I mean, you don't know this guy? No.

Okay. So I was like, can you just tell us where it's from? And he was like, I don't know. My mom said to me. And I'm like, this is nuts. Like, if I knew you better, I'd be like, let's get a peek at that tag then. Yeah, yeah, yeah. So I left the party and I was like, can you just ask your friend where that shirt is from?

It's like, fucking... Oh, shit, man. Uh-huh. It's a good. It's, it's, I, it'll make sense why. And then she's like, he doesn't want to tell you because it's because it's so expensive. And he feels self-conscious. Yes.

And I'm like, in my mind, I said literally, truly, what's the most expensive a shirt could be? $200. So I was like, oh. If I want to shell out. out $200 for a shirt, but leave that up to me, right? Yeah. Yeah. So I said, look, just tell me what it is and I'll make the decision. So he finally gives me the brand. It's some, it's some brand called like Bodie. Bodhi. Bodie, B-O-D-H-I? Boad. I'd never heard it before. I looked it up. Apparently shirts can get more expensive. That's $200. How much is it? They're like, they're like anywhere from

$500 to like $1,000. What is this? fucking mom do. I don't think the mom didn't actually send it to him. He just bought it himself into a baby shower. Oh, oh, man. Yeah, these things are, they sell them at Bergdorf Goodman. Damn, look at this. But apparently a lot of them are like one of a kind.

No, it wasn't. I couldn't even find the one he had. I think a lot of them. Bode. Man, you should have just kicked his ass. No, no. Well, I was like, Jesus.

I was like, if you had just told me in the first. place, we would have avoided all this. And then I would have remembered it. And I would have gone home and I'd go, oh, I got to look up that shirt. And then I would go, oh, not for me. But instead, we had this whole rigmar roll. These are very cool shirts, but I could never get away with wearing one of them. No, no, that's the thing. Like, the one he had was very subdued. Yes. Like when I, I couldn't even, I can't, I, I've looked through them all. Was it a button up? Yeah. I can't find it. Well, did it just fit him really well or what? Or was it just cool? No, it was a nice design. But they weren't like this. These are, these are like

very loud. His was not loud at all. I liked his. Man. I'm curious if he got, so I looked into the company. Apparently, like, the designer, Bodie does like a bunch of custom stuff. This is pissing me off. These are, uh, how do you think I feel? I can't even afford a lot. I'm looking at $1,800 embroidered autumn quilt trousers. Yeah. 890 dollar wool trousers. Oh man, I need to, I need to, I need to, we need to, where's the nearest locker that I can push this guy into? Are these the women's ones? I don't even know. Anyway, wow, this is a theme for today's show, actually, because we're getting big dicked. Getting big dicked.

We are talking about, we got a great episode for you guys today. We're talking about potentially the first trillion dollar pharmaceutical company, the first trillion dollar healthcare related, yeah, pharmaceutical company, all about these obesity drugs and an Alzheimer's breakthrough and some other things that this this company is working on that could that has already made them the most valuable health care related company. I also want to talk about some of the coverage they've gotten. I think it's a bit, I don't know. We'll get into it. Yeah, we'll get into it. We got a whole bunch of stuff. Then we're talking about what else. We're talking about some big shorts out there, the guy, the big short guy, you know, with the

glass eye, who Michael Burry, his, his filings just came out. We're going to be diaries. into that just a little bit and the senator who also took a big short position in the market is just something you might want to pay attention to the credit card debt credit card debt hitting a record high we're going to touch on that and then probably finished with the bar school sports ESPN bet stuff maybe ESPN butt stuff bet I said bet you know I said bet oh well between the dicking down and getting I said big dick getting dick I can't remember what you said but I think it was about getting dick down by a guy with an expensive shirt I got big dicked yeah you turned around and you were like, just tell me where it's from.

Oh, boy. I will say, speaking of glass eyes, I have noticed recently that my left eye, I think is is glass this whole time. No, I think it's a little lazy. Every time I see a photo of myself now, my left eye is just, I mean, it's always been this way, but it's a lot more pronounced now. I feel that way about me as well. Where it's a little bit closed.

It's a little bit more closed than my right eye. I feel that. I feel mine is that way. I think it might just be a universal. I've noted, because I started looking at other people's pictures. I think people probably look at themselves in a picture first. But then when you look at someone else, I think everyone's eyes are a bit. Kind of like how women's breasts, one will be a little bit bigger.

I've never seen a pair, but so. That's usually how it works, as women tend to have asymmetrical breasts. Well, I hope to find out one day. Yeah, well, you can just Google it. I have that to look forward to. um can't can't wait to see my first pair and go oh ben was right oh man or don't don't you know what maybe in the bonus we'll talk about our first breast experiences uh i won't i will you know me i'll tell all about it oh boy it was just last week so good oh man

it's so good okay so what the hell's going on wait wait shouldn't we hit the theme cue the theme I'd like to try to sell something to you. There are all missions. There are no more sense. It is the best. Day twins. Untebrons. Love the colors.

Like marks, waves. Rules, pounds, and sex. Sex. The law is safe. College of corporations. The world is a business. I have seen the face of God. And we're back.

So, oh man, you know, the thing that's on everybody's tongue these days? Obesity stocks. obesity, drugs. That's what's on everybody's tongue. That's what's on everybody's, it's not, it's not chocolate service. It's not Mr. Beast chocolate bars. I'll tell you that. The more I read about this, the more interesting it's getting because it's going to, it's

truly going to be a disruptive thing and I think will be a major net positive. Wow. I disagree. For society and for culture. Interesting. Well, why do you, why do you think it will be a net negative? All right. So before we even get into that, let's talk about like.

what the, this is going out with the stocks and everything. If you don't know about what, I'm sure you've heard of Ozempic, but it's, it's part of a line of pharmaceuticals coming out that, that the active ingredient is semaglutide. It's, uh, look, I don't know what this means either. I don't think you have to, but a glucagon like peptide one. But, you know, the, it, it basically works to curb your appetite, um, which they found out was a side effect for this diabetes medication. It was it was originally used as a pretty popular and effective diabetes medicine. So yeah, the the the peptide is called glp1 and it's secreted the glucagon like that. Right. And it's secreted in the lining of the gut in response to

in response to food and it's in the brain. So these drug makers were initially interested in it because it plays an important role in regulating blood sugar. And the first, The first drugs were approved in 2005 to treat diabetes. That's OZEPIC. That's the lower dose of the semaglutide, which is approved for diabetes. And then Wigovi was the one they started putting out for weight loss and obesity. It's an anti-obesity treatment. And that's made by Novo Nordisk.

Right. And then OZempic, which is also made by Novo Nordisk, is a lower dose, like you said, that's approved for diabetes. But then the FDA, the big news that is coming out is the FDA is really, The FDA is expected to approve Mungaro for weight loss, and that's from Eli Lilly. It's already cleared to treat type 2 diabetes, and it mimics the action of a hormone called GIP in addition to the GLP one thing. Damn, dude.

When the GIP and the GLP hit? Yeah. It's interesting to read about because, yeah, it basically, it just makes people feel fuller, quicker. Not only that, but a lot of anecdotal evidence, a lot of anecdotes are saying that it makes people want to actually eat healthier, too. They're like turned off by things that they used to love, like pizza and fried foods and all that. So apparently it's curbing appetite, but also suppressing your, yeah, your desire for not just food things. People are reporting like less desire for alcohol and that kind of thing. Apparently it

helps with impulse control. These are what the early reports are saying. Right. So I was diving in. There's this really interesting article from the Financial Times all about how Eli Lilly is on track to become. They just this week surpassed United Healthcare to become the most valuable health care company in the world. They're just past the $500 billion market cap benchmark. Mark. But so, yeah, so just straight from the article here, they've had, they also had some

big news with their Alzheimer's treatments. So chief scientific and medical officer Daniel Skavronsky said that Eli Lilly was planning to launch more than 20 new drugs over the next decade to sustain its growth in that it wants to become the first trillion dollar healthcare company. It also wants to expand its pipeline and oncology and develop treatments for underserved illness. is like chronic pain. I also do want to point out a lot. So a lot of that stuff you're talking about was one of the reasons why, you know, how they, people were saying that, wow, Eli Lilly, they did the right thing because they decided

to cap their insulin prices and stuff like that. Well, a lot of people were saying this was, this was in cooperation with the Biden administration because they want to make sure that they can stay unregulated when they start pushing out all these new drugs. And they want favorable regulations. I think for things like they want to make sure they can be classified as drugs that will be covered by insurance. Right. And right now, like the obesity versions are not where the diabetic versions are covered by your insurance.

Right. Because these are expensive drugs. Right. That's a big part of it. But Eli Lilly's stock, I mean, I'm looking at it here from 2020, it was at a low of, just about a little over $100 and it just eclipsed 546. So it's

really, it's skyrocketing in part because last month they published the results of a late stage trial showing its Alzheimer's treatment. These all have such funny names. Donanamab. It looks like someone just mash their keyboard. Donenomab. Doninab.

Significantly slowed memory loss and cognitive decline and it's expecting to receive regulatory approval later this year. and enter the market for Alzheimer's treatments that's expected to be worth $14 billion a year by 2030, which I would think would be a lot bigger. Like the weight loss, the weight loss market is, I believe, $135 billion a year industry. And Alzheimer's treatments, yeah, I would think would be way more than just $14 billion a year

with how many people have Alzheimer's. Yeah, but think about how many Americans are obese. True, over 40%. We're, like, going to hit 50 soon. Yeah. So, yeah. Business, baby. Right.

It is. It's huge business. I mean, so much so that they are, they are conscious of the, because there was obviously like a shift in the way we think about bodies, right? Probably like a decade and a half ago, you know, body positivity started becoming more of a thing. And now they kind of have this weird task where they're trying to say, okay, well, We're not doing that anymore. Bigger is not healthy.

You need to get on our weight loss drugs. Right. And so they have a Novo Nordisk, the maker of Ozempic and we go. We start an awareness campaign about body shame and obesity featuring conversations with plus size women. The purpose of the campaign is to unpack the complexities of obesity, asking questions and sharing perspectives from the community with the goal of sparking conversations and connections. They want to say that obesity is not. not a character flaw. It's a matter of health. So they want to like reframe the conversation around this to make sure people are coming in to get treated. Right. So, well, just speaking of Novo Nordisk,

they just released this week a positive kind of unintentional side effect almost. This is straight from their, it's their trial is called Select, but this is a direct quote from them. People living with obesity have an increased risk of cardiovascular disease. But to date, there are no approved weight management medications proven to deliver effective weight management while also reducing the risk of heart attack, stroke, or cardiovascular death. Therefore, we're excited to show that semaglaglutide, semaglutide, 2.4 milligram reduces the risk of cardiovascular events. So it reduced, that's huge. So the fact that not only does it help. um it helps with treating obesity but it also helps reduce that other really deadly part of it

which is yeah reducing cardiovascular events um so but it's it's not without its flaws so like there's this other thing from from the associated press about how when you go in for surgery what do they tell you to do stop eating yes because you run the risk of aspirating you run the risk of having fluids or food particles getting into your lungs. So there's a problem with these weight loss drugs where, and it's obviously, as these are becoming more widely prescribed, there's problems that are being made known that otherwise you might not know about, which is the fact that, for example, in the United States and Canada, these anesthesiologists are saying that they've been seeing.

People are puking. No, no, growing numbers of patients on the weight loss drugs, who inhaled food and liquid into their lungs while sedated because their stomachs were still full even after following standard instructions to stop eating for six to eight hours in advance because the drug's slow digestion and it looks like they don't even, they still don't really know how long there's no, they've been having people, they called for the drug to be stopped for even longer about three weeks before sedation because, yeah, there's still food in there as long as up to 20 hours before procedures when they have some of glutide in their

systems. Interesting. Yeah. So, I mean, that's just one thing. There was a guy, a 42-year-old man in Boston who started taking we govy, had to be intubated and suffered respiratory failure that put him in intensive care. And he had, he fasted for 18 hours before his surgery, but he still had food in his stomach. Well, so, I mean, that's my, that's my big grape with it, is that, like, So I found a, I had a difficult time finding the negative side effects. And I think I'm just shocked by seeing these major publications truly talk about something that, I mean, everyone knows the saying if something seems too good to be true. Probably is.

I mean, we all remember Fen, Finn, in the early 2000s that gave people heart attacks. But so, I mean, you're just seeing the coverage of like, you know, from the Wall Street Journal. OZempic settles the debate. It's biology over willpower. and, you know, New York Times, just weight loss drugs, cut risk of health problem, GQ, weight loss drugs will be about more than vanity. And, you know, like, for example, when you go into that, because a lot of people just read

headlines, when you go into that, they talk about, the thing you were talking about, all these, like, other positive side effects we have, but what they say is many details were missing from the announcement on Tuesday by Wegove's Maker Novo Nordus. The company said that the drug reduced the overall risk of heart attacks, strokes, and cardiovascular deaths by 20%, but it did not. break out the effects of the drug on each of those outcomes individually. The company also did not describe how much weight patients lost to provide details on side effects of the drug and how many patients decide to stop taking it. So it's like, you know, they're leaving out a lot. They're saying,

you know, we've done it. And there's one. So like, and then when you read these things, there was a line from the GQ article. There are ongoing concerns about GLP ones, specifically regarding reduced muscle mass in gastrointestinal distress, but this latest trial shows these drugs may have implications beyond weight loss. And I was like, hang on, but like, go deeper to that. And they have a link to an article about, it's from Healthline. OZembe can cause major loss of muscle mass and reduce bone density. And if you read it, it's wild. Is it something that you'd be willing, if you were obese and had no other? You tell me if you're willing to do this. Give it to me.

While weight loss can bring about health benefits, losing weight rapidly can also cause a decrease in muscle mass, less in bone density, and lower your resting metabolic rate, leading to sarcopenia, the gradual loss of muscle mass, muscle mass, strength, and function. Sarcopenia affects the elderly population and typically is associated with aging. However rapidly losing weight with GLP-1s like Ozzyk or Wigovie without the proper diet and exercise can also cause sarcopenia, sometimes referred to as skinny fat, at any age, negatively affecting a person's quality of life by reducing their stamina and ability to perform daily activities such as easily walking upstairs well so they're like we can make you thin but you're

going to be like a geriatric thin person and then you're also going to be pretty much and they say sarcopenic obesity mimics obesity it occurs when a person's bm i is the normal or low range but their levels of lean muscle are so low that fat and bones are the only fat and bones are the only metabolically active tissue. Right. And it, I mean, the biggest one for me is the fact that once you stop taking it, it apparently you just revert right back to your old habits. And that's the thing that Eli Lilly is contending with because they're, they're lobbying really hard to get these medications covered by Medicare because they're trying to convince Congress. Well, they're trying to reframe obesity, basically. Well, they're trying, no, well, they're trying to

They're trying to show that the benefit, all they have to do is show that the benefits outweigh the negatives, in part showing that, hey, curing, not curing, but remedying obesity in these people will actually save you more money over the long term because it'll reduce things like diabetes. It'll reduce things like cardiovascular events. If you have a healthier population, it's actually going to save programs like Medicare money over the long term. So it, it, it, It's part of this treat and reduce obesity act that was reintroduced last month. It was first introduced over a decade ago, but initial clinical trial results suggested that we go we can reduce the risk of serious heart problems is part of its new momentum.

Currently, Medicare beneficiaries can access some obesity care services through Medicare Part B. They can also get services by buying enhanced coverage through Medicare Advantage. but Part D is barred from covering anti-obesity medications due to a 20-year piece of legislation called the Medicare Modernization Act, which is from the Fen-Fen thing in 2003 because it was associated with serious side effects. So Congress is really paying attention to this and they're really saying that they're going to make it a priority. But obviously covering, we go we could mean, as it says here on this Hill article, several

billions more in Medicare spending if beneficiaries choose to take the drug with one study estimating it would cost $13.6 billion if just 10% of beneficiaries with obesity took the medication. And what would that mean for Eli Lilly? A ton of fucking money. A ton of money. Right. And I mean, I think that's the, I think it's... They're expected to approve it as an obesity treatment this fall. But I think, I don't know. And it's a hundred billion dollar a year market as an obesity treatment. I know I said $16 billion, but that was a different subsect. And this, I mean, this UBS analyst says, Lily has really struck oil with this obesity

franchise who estimates, he is estimating annual sales for Mungaro of $35 billion by 2035. $35 billion a year. Yeah, I don't buy it. I would not go. I mean. I mean, so they're rewarding the stock so far. It's kind of a wait-and-see deal. The market seems to think that it's going to be hugely beneficial,

or not hugely beneficial, but hugely successful. Oh, obviously. Yeah, I think it's... It's like the first thing that came up when I was looking for the negative side effects of Ozympic were this article, what we get wrong about drugs like OZempic. And I was like, oh, maybe that's going to be... critical of it, right? And so I'm like, who wrote this thing? It's up from author Yanni

Friedhof. Okay, Friedhof, MD is an associate professor of family medicine at the University of Ottawa. We like that. Medical director of the bariatric medical institute, great. He has received a clinical grant from Novo Nordisk. Interesting. Okay. Let's see what this guy getting a fat check from Novo Nordist has to say. I mean, just listen to the way he opens this. imagine a new medication was developed that not only provided meaningful improvement for the debilitating chronic condition it's prescribed, but also helps the treat and prevent a myriad of other serious diseases. Imagine the same drug markedly improved the person's quality of life with noted reductions in pain and improvements in mobility, along with increases in confidence and mood.

This sounds like a miracle drug. I mean, now imagine that the media and medical coverage of its release are almost uniformly negative or sensationalistic. I mean, that's insane. That's just not how it's been covered at all. It's been uniformly positive. He points a little bit to the fact that people make light of the fact that a lot of celebrities have access to it and they're getting a bit people are just poking fun at it. I don't know. No one's like, oh, this drug is a miracle and all you guys do is make fun of it. Yeah. Okay. So and then he said, this is precisely what has happened with the new generation of anti-obesity medications that began with we go v ozempic and with many more rapidly on their way so yeah i don't know i have a feeling this guy might be uh you know getting

more than just a clinical grant he might get some consulting money or maybe money from some promotional talks but like he goes on to he says i'm gonna so there's so many flawed arguments here are the 10 most common and he says debunked but they're they're not i mean so he says number one you need to you need to take them long term. And if you stop, you'll regain the weight you've lost. Yes, that's how treatments for chronic conditions work. And aside from weight, the notion doesn't seem to bother anyone. And so he's just accepting that, yes, you do it. But they're also reframing it, right? So now it's just the chronic condition. And, I mean, and that's good news for Novo Nordisk, right? You're going to have to be, these are lifelong drugs you'll have to be on now. I mean, because I can see

they're like, it's great for them. They have a point that these, obesity comes along with, with a lot of health issues. And so, but why not help people manage their weight and then move off of these drugs? I'm sure that that's going to be up to individual physicians and health care providers. Yeah, but if physicians are getting kickbacks and doing all this stuff to, you know, I mean, I don't know.

I think it's partly because they're discovering. I'm sure we've heard that like doctors prescribe more of the medicine that they have like a relationship with the pharmaceutical companies and stuff like So, I mean, and that's the thing. We're reading an article from a doctor who is like... So you're afraid that it's going to be over-prescribed? I'm also, I mean, I'm afraid that, like, I don't know, I find this all very odd. So, like, the Wall Street, not, yes, the Wall Street Journal article, because of this reframing of obesity as, like, now a chronic condition, I don't quite understand what they're, like, so they say, the obesity.

is an epidemic. It's a product of forces old and new that have collided in people. Human biology shaped over millennia of struggle to find sustenance, lives that are largely now lives that are largely sitting down and the abundance of cheap processed foods. That are highly addictive. Right. So. But they don't want to go after that type of thing, right? So potato chips, soda, and other cheap processed foods are a big culprit because they are high in calories, sugar, salt, and fat and they're hard to put down. Study some stuff. When you say they can't go after that, they're not going to go after that. What do you mean? Like go after those like Mondalese take on Mondalese, take on Coca-Cola, is that what you're saying?

I mean, we could regulate our food. We could, you know, we could do a better job of not putting in... Sure. It's, I mean... I mean, if you walk through, like, your average grocery store in America, it's, like, shocking the things that are on shelves. Well, so that's actually... I don't think other countries are just, like, fill every product with, like, high-fructose corn syrup.

There is a, there is an argument to be made for these drugs changing that in a way that the government couldn't, which is that... But these drugs have horrible side effects. I haven't even gotten to the part about, like, how, you know, like, people have claimed to be suicidal on OZempic. People are getting, like, stomach paralysis. You know, we talked about the, like, sarcopenia. And then, I mean, this is from Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center. This drug has been shown to cause thyroid cancer in some animals.

It is not known if this happens in humans. If thyroid cancer happens, it may be deadly, if not found and treated early. call your doctor right away if you have a neck mask trouble breathing trouble swalling or have hoarseness that will not go away i mean i like and so european regulators are looking into the cancer link and the mental health risk and like i mean i i don't know it's just like i mean and so this i hear what you're saying but i don't think that that's going to change the fact that the fda is going to approve it because it seems like the positives i'm not saying they won't i'm just saying yeah this seems like a dangerous fix and a windfall for pharmaceutical companies where

sure and well you now get to get people on a lifelong medicine potentially a lifelong medicine correct and it's making it could have it's already making a bunch of diabetes device makers stocks drop dexcom insulate medtronic to name a few their stocks have recently taking a hit because obviously, hey, if the market is starting to look forward and say, whoa, if these companies are going to be able to reduce diabetes by a significant margin, then what are you going to need to invest in diabetes hardware for, the glucose regulators and whatnot? Not only that, but it's causing analysts to completely upend their forecasts on the food industry.

This is from Morgan Stanley. We believe the food industry will need to address shifting consumer behavior stemming from broader adoption of these drugs, which reduce calorie intake, resulting in lower consumption broadly across food categories, but with more significant effects on unhealthier foods

such as confections, baked goods, and salty snacks. Cited food companies such as hostess brands, Hershey's, Campbell and Mondalese is the ones that are most at risk. The front, boo-hoo. Oh my God. poor companies. They're not going to sell as many Oreos. The firm also sees the potential for dwindling crowds at restaurants as consumers cut back on trips to fast food change in coffee

shops. Chains like Kava, Chipotle, Mexican Grill, and sweet green could fare better as their products include salads and items like chicken grain bowls and healthier options. This is a lot of speculation though. I don't know. Oh yeah. But then some people pointed or some, another analyst pointed out that it might not have that drastic in effect because sometimes the is actually a little bit more expensive, just like how people started embracing oat milk and dairy alternatives. But yeah, it'll be interesting over the next 10 years to see how many people, if it's, if it is a net positive, great. And if it, if it, if it needs into a mandala, are they going to have fucking diet Oreos? I mean, they already have like fat-free Oreos,

which are delicious. They're just as good. They've really, they've really, really nailed it man diet coke i mean jesus christ come on but it's interesting that it that it not only makes you less hungry but it makes the food that you once loved suddenly unappealing it's wild and i guess yeah i i would hope that it would be prescribed responsibly but i mean jesus look at the opioid epidemic it's i mean sure yeah so but that's the thing i don't understand like i don't understand at the same time saying it's the food's problem and the only solution is this new drug. I don't know who's saying that. You're just saying it. Like that we, you know, the problem is we're addicted to these like high calorie foods. I'm not saying that the problem is we're addicted

to these. I'm saying that that's part of what has led to this point is that we have such, uh, it's available for anyone to consume at any time that goes against our, very DNA because we no longer have to like fight for hunting down a fucking deer or a rabbit. It's it's readily available and it plays to it plays to a certain part of a but it also feels like a uniquely American experience right? Sure. But so so what is our issue that we need these drugs? I think what they're learning they're learning more about obesity that it is something that's not

it's not just a matter of diet and exercise for some people it is it is a chronic condition and i don't know if that's something that they're now making up to to make it easier to sell to the fda i don't think they're making it up i think we are i think we are all like addicted to these horrible of course i fully agree yeah we are and i think for some people but i just feel like the answer being a more drugs yeah a pharmaceutical with potentially uh yeah but at the same time i don't and obviously i don't know because there's when people are talking about thyroid cancer yeah but there remains mental health risk sure there was stomach paralysis sure if you're how prevalent are those things i would say that if if for the overwhelming majority of people it causes them to have a better quality of life and

to reduce the risk of such things that could be brought about by eating the foods that they were having struggles to get themselves off of, then that's a net positive that I would much rather have for society than not. But it also makes me extremely uncomfortable, yeah, having it overprescribed, which it absolutely will, because it already is for things just like vanity, just wanting to lose weight. And it's like, yeah, yeah, okay, do you want to lose 10 pounds? Get on this fucking thing. Like, okay, sure, I guess.

but well i don't think it's for people who want to lose 10 pounds right i mean i wouldn't put i wouldn't put it past well i imagine right i imagine if someone went in and wanted to yeah i mean why not yeah uh so as we said about 45% of the u.s population has obesity and 70% are overweight according to the cdc but morgan stanley isn't baking in an expectation that hurdles to taking the drugs will be reduced over time. Currently, it expects 40 million people have health insurance plans that would cover the medication. So 40 million people, yeah, that's a lot of people that could potentially have it covered. But yeah, I don't know. I wonder how, I don't know what the FDA's rules say about just how many bad side effects.

constitutes not having the drug get approved i would hope that it's if european regulators were were to ban it but the fdaa were to approve it how would you feel i would say that the that there's something serious going on there and i would want to short the hell out of eli lilly and novo nor do that oh i don't think it would make a difference for i think the united states yeah i think i think it would go on business as usual yeah i think that's the i think that's kind of the problem. Well, again, I like, well, the other thing that just has me excited, though, is the, is the Alzheimer's thing.

They're, Eli Lilly, I know, this isn't me, like, sucking off a, a major pharmaceutical company, but it is. It was hard to understand what you said. It sounded your voice. Correct? No, it was a bit muffled, almost like you had something in your mouth. Oh, Eli. Oh, Eli. Yeah.

So, no, look, I mean, obviously I'm like, I'd be, I'm hopeful that people who need help can get it. I just, I think it's. It's big business. Right. I think I'm just naturally skeptical of anything. And, you know, whenever I see these kind of things, I go, I don't know about all that. And like, you look into it and you go, Jesus Christ, I don't know. And unlike, you know, yonnie, free.

Friedhoff or whatever, I don't think that OZempic is getting like an unfair shake in the media. It seems like, if anything, they're getting a congratulatory, you fucking did it. Yeah. Yeah. We certainly live in unboring times to see if, like I said, I'm most excited about if they can make significant leeway with their Alzheimer's treatment. But that's, they've been trying to do that for so long. One interesting thing about Eli Lilly, I learned, is that their R&D, their main R&D center is somewhere in like rural Indiana. That is interesting.

Well, because a lot of their, a lot of their workers just spend a lot of the, they don't, they're not distracted by a big city hubbub and they're just, they're just working and they're just going to town on these, uh, are you saying that, are you saying that people in Indiana are not. I'm not saying that, dude. Let's unpack that a bit. Well, okay, so this guy said their commitment to R&D and its focus on areas of long-term internal expertise has been critical for its success. He added that the company's relatively remote location in Indiana means many employees stay for long periods, insulating it from certain external pressures. So you're saying the, um, how bored the employees are. Yeah, they're just like, we might as well. We might as well cure

Alzheimer's. Jesus Christ. But he's pointing out how they differentiate themselves from other companies who jump around from, yeah, we're working on an Alzheimer's thing. That's not really working. Let's jump around to this other thing. But they have stayed focused on on doing one thing. Well, several things, but like they stay focused at it. Yeah, I didn't know this. Damn, dude, I got to this whole time I thought I needed Adderall. Maybe I just need to move to rural Indiana and just not have distractions you're not going to baby showers where guys are wearing thousand dollar shirts to keep you to keep you entertained yeah yeah so how much could it be two hundred dollars so if you're looking up I mean you look at Eli Lilly's stock chart

and it's fucking insane it's priced for perfection so it'll be interesting for Mujaro analysts have set very high annual peak sales forecast ranging from 35 billion from UBS to $70 billion by Jeffreys before the drug has even been approved by regulators to treat obesity. Yeah. So then there's the other problem of meeting manufacturing capacity, too. And then there's no guarantee that the $1,000 a month cost will be approved by public and private insurers. So, yeah, who knows? We'll see.

So anyway, let's move on. We shall see what happens with all the semen glutide. yeah pumping through our goddamn veins uh i just really quick speaking of potentially shorting there so michael burry the big short guy had his latest filing hit but it's a little deceiving because if you read the headlines it says that he short the market by like a billion dollars which is not true right it's the notional value of his options positions that are fully he's his options positions if you remember options are just leverage so he's he's His actual positions that he bought are worth, I don't know, $10, $20 million,

but the amount of stock that they control is worth potentially one point, whatever billion dollars. So it's not exactly accurate to say he's putting on a massive, massive show. Still, $20 million of put options in the spy and the triple Q's is still substantial. And then I saw that this, from unusual whales, this senator bought some stock in this short. This Senator Thomas Carper bought 30,000. I don't know if it shares.

It just says 30K in PSQ, an ultra short triple Q index. And he's been in office for 40 years and shorted the markets many times. Senators be buying stocks. Senators do be buying stocks. Sometimes they do be shorting. You know who'd be buying stuff is U.S. consumers. Can't get enough of the stuff. part of this um trillion dollar 1.03 trillion dollars in credit card balances at the end of the second

you know you know my fucking you pay it off every month yeah me too even earlier i don't like keeping the only thing i'll go in credit card debt for is a $1,000 shirt there was a bit of me that like you know the you know the marty mcfly thing where it's like what are you chicken yeah as soon it was like there was a bit of me that was like he thinks i can't for him i'll go into credit card Yeah, I'll go buy that shirt, you stupid son of a bitch. Like how I bought $1,000 worth of shirts from that fucking company and then their return window was three days, which is insane. And I thought that it was a normal amount, like at least a week. And I came back from the trip I was on only to find, oh, I can't return these shirts because it's past the three-day return window.

Fuck you. I'll set your building on fire. Okay. Yeah. I'll set it on fire. I don't care. What are the repercussions? What's the LAPD going to do?

At least for that $1,000 you got like five shirts. Yeah. Yeah, great. I ended up selling them on like some... Did it work? Clothing app. Yeah, some kids bought it for like 50% off. Oh, so kind of not.

Yeah. I still lost half the money. Yeah, I still lost that. I mean, it was either that or just keep these fucking shirts and get pissed off every time I look at every time you wear them. Just like, oh, this fucking thing? Yeah, this fucking shirt. Do you want it? Do you want it? I'll sell it to you literally right now. Basement prices. Basement prices.

No, I don't know. This seems like one of those big headlines that people get in an uproar about, but is maybe not. But no, I mean, yeah, there's an argument to me made both sides that, hey, on the one hand, the good side is that people are spending money, right? Which is good for the economy because we are a consumer fucking economy. People are spending money. But on the other hand, with interest rates as high as they are, that means that this credit card debt is going to be a lot more expensive to service. Yes. And then you've got delinquency. Delinquency rates are apparently back to pre-pandemic levels. But there's little evidence of actual distress. So far, they're saying it's described as a normalization from unusually low rates during the pandemic. Right. That's the thing. There was a huge decrease in credit card debt because of, you know, a lot of boost to people's incomes and just money on cash on hand. And so. So, like, that's the thing, too. They talk about the spike. You know, I think we were down to like 700 million in credit card debt at one point. And to bounce up to a trillion is quite a big spike. But it's a normalization after coming out of the pandemic. And then, I don't know, Ben Carlson was talking about how, like, you're looking at one stat doesn't often show you the big picture. And he's talking about how, like, the economy, household net worth and home equity have all grown substantially faster than credit card debt. since the pandemic started and um you know he there may be an argument people may try to argue that like well that doesn't take into effect like lower income households and stuff but he he says like you know total net worth for the bottom 50% was just 400 billion in 2011 after getting decimated

during the 2008 financial crisis by the end of 2019 that number was up to two trillion dollars at as of the latest reading it is now 3.4 trillion damn dog that's a big number uh all these numbers are rising. I don't know. Michael Berry seems to think it's a bad news. Michael Berry thinks a lot of stuff. Yeah, Michael Burry. Michael Berry thinks a lot of stuff.

He's usually early. And he was wrong. He has been wrong multiple times. Yes, he was right one very famous time. Yeah, yeah. Well, oh man, I guess speaking of senators real fast, everybody was tagging us in the thing about Diane Feinstein falling. Pretty weird that that happened.

is it weird she's like a thousand years old yeah i know it's pretty weird though i wonder if it was from the top of some stairs nobody really knows where she fell we're not getting any details but let's just gloss over that part other big news that happened this week was bar stool got sold back to dave portnoy for like a dollar and everybody thinks that it's just him winning and stuff but it's not actually that pen the the gaming company that bought it from him and then sold it back to him, they still have a piece of the pie. Right. So part of his deal is if he sells it, if he turns around and sells it now, they're

going to get half of whatever he sells it for. And there's some non-compete clause. Yeah, they're restricting him from having a sports book. But I mean, this is, so he has come out and said, I will never, ever sell. Even if I die, I'll transfer it to one of my, I don't know, he said like confidants or whatever. Yeah. Oh, Kooky, the bear.

whatever their fucking stupid nicknames are. Hey, Joji. Oh my God. You, dude, I was reading, there was a Vanity Fair article on the...

Also, give one of the slices of pizza a 10 already. This 9.3 shit is like his highest thing with this stupid pizza. Get over yourself. The, all the names I was reading, there's a Vanity Fair article talking about the CEO now kind of leading the company now that they're free from this.

You mean, you mean Dave Portnoye? leading the company that's not the CEO who's the CEO Barstool it's a woman her name is Erica Ayers Badan she's very attractive but yeah no Dave Fortnoy is the founder

of of Barstool but she's the CEO okay what did it say well great you made me lose my place awesome so sorry because you wrote Dave Portnoy's different but no I don't they were just listing all the people and I was just like what are

of these things. The walls are cluttered with TVs tuned into all the sports channels and flags reading Viva La Stool and Saturdays are for the boys. There's a room with eight saggy leather chairs that scream that they've seen some things, each with a microphone at its feet, all arranged stadium style in front of about a trillion TV screens. To the right of them is a fist-sized hole in the wall, a relic from the time one of the guys punched through it during a playoff game. This place sounds like my nightmare. Yeah, it sounds like it sucks. Hopped up on sports and beer and each other and each other joey camashta big cat when i sat down with kate yeah big cat kate mannion the afghanistan warbett who co-hosts their military they have a military

podcast zero blog 30 that's a funny name that's a pretty good name she pulled up her philly's t-shirt to show me that she was holding her jeans together with her with her hair tie she's a few months pregnant, but Manion came to Barstool as so many hopefuls do by way of a photo she tweeted remarking that the Calzone she'd ordered looked remarkably like a vagina. She's going to fit right in. The tweet picked up steam and people started tagging Uncle Chaps, a Marine and Barstool who's, I feel like they're making this stuff up. Uncle, a Marine and Barstool host who happened to have a running feature centered around objects that resembled genitals. Jesus. But, Sounds like a great place.

So part of the reason why they severed ties is because they felt, Penn felt like it was bad to be it. Well, yeah, they wanted to partner with ESPN, who's owned by Disney. And who has a fucking 10 times bigger audience. Right. Barstools only got like 8 million monthly active users or something like that. A lot of people were like, how the hell did, how the hell did Dave Portnoy get his company back for a dollar, right?

Well, it was, it kind of worked out for everyone, right? Penn wanted to do this deal, which they're going to get done. It's a $2 billion deal with ESPN, right? And they didn't want. And that's part of the, like Dave Portnoy and Barstool were a headache for. Yeah. And it was also a headache for Barstool, right? So every time they did something, because the gambling industry is so regulated.

Yes. They were just get like, the stock would take a hit. Yeah. It's just like. Because there are a bunch of dipshit. who don't like the rules. Right. So, yeah, it's good for Barstool because Barstool doesn't have to play by a bunch of meticulous rules by a bunch of nerds.

And Penn doesn't have to deal with a headache of this dipshit company, putting them at risk every time that there's a violation or a potential violation. The CEO talked to it. She said, we underestimated how punitive the regulatory environment was and how stringent it was going to be, really at the core Barstools about entertainment satire comedy. But she gives an example. One of Barstool's biggest personality, Dan Big Cat Cats, That's the guy you were talking about.

Jesus, who hosts, Pardon My Take, launched Can't Lose Parlay. Oh, the show that we steal from now. We actively steal from Pardon My Take, according to people on TikTok. I'm actually a big cat fan. I'm a big, big cat fan. I could tell you exactly what he looks like. So he launched Can't Lose Parlay, which to his audience was a bit of a joke because, as Ayers Bedan pointed out, he is arguably one of the worst betters of all time and he always loses the parley.

The gambit landed them in a regulatory hearing in front of the Massachusetts Gaming Commission who claimed that the name was deceiving customers by using the language can't lose, even though it was very likely that they would. Additionally, as long as they were talking about football in the context of betting, state regulations wouldn't allow Barstool to do shows on any college campus, which is a demographic linchpin for Barstool's gross strategy. And then there was the issue with Penn Stock dipped with each article, detailing problems about the barstool.

Why would Penn even get in? You would think that in their due diligence, they would realize that would highlight these as potential problems and not have it cost them half a billion dollars down the road. Yeah, I mean, it's crazy. Perplexing. Yeah. But on the news of the ESPN deal, Penn Stock surged more than 20% after hours. Yeah, but they're still in trouble.

They're still not in trouble, but their stock is still hovering at 52-week lows. Did you watch, did you see Dave Portnoy on that? getting interviewed by Fox Business? No. Was he obnoxious? No, I have to say, like, he's not someone. I usually see, like, the annoying clips of him that make it to TikTok or Twitter and people making fun of him or whatever.

What do you say? But I have to say he seemed quite charming. And, like, I think that is probably the, he seems happy. And as someone who just bought their, because so he got paid twice for this deal, all right? He says he made about $500 million for the original deal to Penn Entertainment, right? So in the first push, Penn Entertainment completed its 36% stake in Barstool Sports for $163 million. That was in 2020. Throughout 2021, Penn launched the Barstool Sportsbook, mobile app throughout the U.S.

making it available in 12 different states. In February of 2023, Penn acquired the remainder of the company for $388 million. All to him. Was he the sole owner? I don't know. No, no, because I'm almost positive that. Someone had it. It was the churnins.

I believe the churnins owned a large. I don't call me on that. Yeah, turned on entertainment. Sure. But yes, he seemed like the guy who was, it seemed like a guy who had just got his $500 million company back for a dollar. And, you know, the guy says, the guy says like, well, so what are you going to do with all this? And he's like, well, obviously, like, I spend my money.

I, as soon as it went through, I bought a horse for $650,000. That's, I mean, you can't hate a guy for buying a horse. I mean, you really can't. That's a cool way. I know. It's like, it's nice thing, I don't know. I would not have guessed that that's what he bought. It's nice seeing someone just like.

Yeah. And he also said that he's not going to immediately liquidate his pen holdings. He says he still believes in the company and that he's going to hold on to it. So he'll probably be a billionaire by the time we're dead. Oh, probably. sooner. I mean, he's pretty optimistic about, like, what Barstool Sports can become now, considering they don't have to, you know, he said, like, he's been tweeting, like, the regulatory industry, probably not the best place for Barstool Sports.

Right. You know, for the first time and forever, we don't have to watch what we say, how we talk, what we do. It's back to the pirate ship. All right. Awesome. That pirate ship is, enough about them. It's on, they're on the rise. May they not get scurvy. I hope. I hope they don't all get scurvy. Okay, I didn't know you were so out on... Well, what else is there to say? Nothing, apparently. You haven't given anything bad?

No, no. It just was like, ugh, I'm getting barstool fatigue. What else is there? I think we're at the end. What? I don't know. You just cut it off and then you were like, did we talk about ESPN bet?

Yeah, they've partnered with ESPN bet. That's going to be a big deal. Well, yeah, because there's how many people, 150 something? I don't think that they're going to be able to monetize those ESPN viewers. I don't think that they're a gambling demographic. I feel like ESPN viewers. What do you mean? Who gambles? People who are sports fans? Yeah, but I wonder if it doesn't, just because you like sports doesn't mean you're active, I guess. No, look, it's probably, I don't think it's one for one, but I think if you're,

if you're seeking out sports gamblers. Sports entertainment consumers. Sports fans are probably your best bet. Yeah, especially if you can lean them in that direction. If you're the number one, if you're the number one, like, hub for sports. Can I retract my previous prediction? But also, so I don't know much about sports gambling at all. Me neither. I don't think I've ever placed a bet.

Me neither. On sports. But what I've heard is it comes down to, it all comes down to, like, interface and how well the app and insight. and everything works. It's like that's going to be the complete, uh, make a break thing for,

right. Of course for newbies like us who would be. But not even newbies. I think like as long as it, as long as it's like there's an ease of use and it's clean and people like using it. Right. It's probably going to be really easy to get, um,

ESPN users over. Start placing all kinds of, I mean, dude, imagine checking your scores and there's just like a little fucking, I don't know if it works like that. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah, especially for the bets that can be made in the middle of a game as it's still going,

quarter by quarter or half by half or inning by inning, depending on the sport. Anyway, okay, we got the bonus episode coming up. We're going to try these feastables bars. I'm excited for the crunch one. I bet they're going to taste fine. It says that there's only five ingredients. That's pretty cool. That's fine.

we got a whole lot of shit to talk about in the bonus episode so you'll just have to tune in to check it out product of Peru oh my gosh um wow yeah this one looks like i thought it was going to be a mint chocolate chip nope just milk chocolate but you know it looks that way yeah patreon dot com slash pay pigs pod if you want to see us yeah and uh love you buy a ticket to london if you want to come oh yeah going quick bye