Matter of Fat

 The new weight loss drug Mounjaro has captured the market with unexpected speed, zooming to be the second-most selling medicine for September in India. Launched in March, Mounjaro sold `56 crore in August; the next month, it was ` 80 crore, trailing only slightly behind Augmentin, an antibiotic. It is a medicine first made for diabetics to keep sugar levels under control by suppressing hormones that regulate hunger. Diabetes and obesity are connected, but the latter is a bigger market. Mounjaro, and other drugs of its class, found themselves on a gold mine once regulators permitted them for obesity. When a drug becomes so widely popular—and it is not just in India alone—it means more than people with urgent medical necessity are using it.