Obesity Treatment Act: This is an ignition to mega investments in obesity treatments and M&A deals

Exactly a year after AMA designated Obesity as a disease. The American Medical Association delegation today affirmed  Obesity Care Continuum for concrete dedicated to promoting access to, and coverage of, the continuum of care surrounding the treatment of overweight and obesity. The OCC is working on a variety of efforts to extend care, including the Treat and Reduce Obesity Act, which would take the first step to improve access to care by requiring Medicare to cover obesity counseling and medications.Proven obesity treatments range from bariatric Gastric bands, and surgery involving cutting and removing portions of stomach and intestine. The surgeons may use a minimally invasive laparascopic technique but the incidence of leaks and bleeds when you staple and cut portions of the stomach are grave. Obesity drugs which have been approved by FDA do no better than 10% or Excess Weight Loss they are essentially and adjuant to intensive lifestyle interventions and nutrition counseling. There are new companies like GI Dynamics and Onciomed which are very promising emerging technologies that can change the way we treat obesity and diabetes combines. Gi Dynamics product is targeted to GI doctors, while Onciomed GVS system is targeted to bariatric surgeons.

While the Affordable Care Act (ACA) requires insurance coverage for individuals affected by obesity and other related conditions like diabetes, insurers - including those participating in the health insurance exchanges - are not required to cover proven obesity treatment options. And while coverage for bariatric surgery for severe obesity is spotty, at best, coverage for obesity drugs and other evidence-based treatment options is excluded. This might change very quickly,  16 Million of the 70 Million obese Americans are very obese and suffer one or more comorbidities and need to lose over 100lb ASAP to reduce the health care burden due to conditions stemming from obesity like diabetes, stroke, heart disease, spine and orthopedic problems. According to CNBC, US spends over $140 Billion on obesity. 

China, India and other emerging countries are glaring at obesity crisis, while Canada, UK, Mexico, Saudi Arabia, New Zealand and Australia are already facing obesity in epidemic proportions. Patients have to be treated whether the payment occurs from pocket or insurance. The next generation of treatments mentioned above are going to be stars players in rescuing obese patients from deeper crisis.

The Obesity Society (TOS) looks forward to working with the AMA and our partners in the delegation who helped support the passage of the AMA resolution, including American Association of Clinical Endocrinologists (AACE), the American College of Surgeons (ACS), theAmerican Society for Metabolic and Bariatric Surgery (ASMBS) and the American Society of Bariatric Physicians (ASBP). We invite the AMA to take the next step by joining the Obesity Care Continuum, a group of the leading organizations dedicated to promoting access to, and coverage of, the continuum of care surrounding the treatment of overweight and obesity.