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Speaker 1: Bloomberg Audio Studios, podcasts, radio news.

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Speaker 2: When you think about ozempic and other similar drugs, it's

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Speaker 2: likely one group of people comes to mind. TikTok is

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Speaker 2: all over it, and so are some celebrities.

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Speaker 3: Speculations surrounding celebrities who've slimmed down dramatically. Not everyone who

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Speaker 3: needs them can get them, and some who don't need

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Speaker 3: them for medical use may be the problem.

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Speaker 2: Eli Lilly, the company behind two similar drugs, zep Bound

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Speaker 2: and Manjarro, even aired an ad during the Oscars criticizing

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Speaker 2: celebrities for contributing to shortages.

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Speaker 4: For the smaller dress attucks for vanity. But that's not

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Speaker 4: the point.

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Speaker 2: So you might think that places like Hollywood or New

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Speaker 2: York City would have the highest concentration of people on

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Speaker 2: these drugs, places packed with the rich and famous, influencers,

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Speaker 2: people with money to spend on their appearance. That's exactly

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Speaker 2: what Marie Ellis thought.

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Speaker 4: When I first got on to how can seeing all this?

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Speaker 4: I was like, what is this? Is this for real

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Speaker 4: or is this just for people in Hollywood.

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Speaker 2: She's an accountant in Kentucky, and she says she struggled

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Speaker 2: with weight loss her whole life until she tried Mount Jarrow.

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Speaker 4: So I've been on about a year and a half

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Speaker 4: and I've lost eighty one pounds.

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Speaker 2: And Marie isn't the only one.

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Speaker 4: My sister in law was doing the same thing. I

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Speaker 4: mean she was dropping six to ten pounds every time.

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Speaker 2: Schwade in.

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Speaker 4: You can eat whatever you want to. I mean, my

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Speaker 4: husband has not changed anything and lost forty pounds.

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Speaker 2: Marie and her husband and her sister in law are

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Speaker 2: just a few of the people in her community who

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Speaker 2: have taken these drugs. It turns out the epicenter of

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Speaker 2: the weight loss shot boom wasn't a wealthy, image obsessed

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Speaker 2: enclave like Hollywood or Manhattan's Upper East Side, but right

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Speaker 2: in Marie's own backyard. Today, on the show Welcome to Ozempictown, USA,

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Speaker 2: we take a look at Bowling Green, Kentucky, the area

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Speaker 2: with one of the highest constin trations of prescriptions for

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Speaker 2: weight loss drugs in the United States, and unpack what

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Speaker 2: it can tell us about how these drugs could transform

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Speaker 2: communities across the country. This is the big take from

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Speaker 2: Bloomberg News. I'm David Gurak. A decade ago, Bowling Green

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Speaker 2: had farms on the outskirts of town, today, it's a

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Speaker 2: city of seventy four thousand people, the third largest in Kentucky.

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Speaker 2: It's the birthplace of Duncan Hines, the namesake of those

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Speaker 2: fudgy brownie mixes. One of the city's biggest employers is

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Speaker 2: the GM factory that churns out corvettes, and according to

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Speaker 2: the city's official website, it has more restaurants per capita

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Speaker 2: than anywhere else in the country.

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Speaker 3: Driving down the main road into Bowling Green, there's like

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Speaker 3: a McDonald's, a taco bell, and then another McDonald's, and

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Speaker 3: it's just like fast food place after fast food place.

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Speaker 2: Madison Muller is a healthcare reporter at Bloomberg with a

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Speaker 2: focus on weight loss drugs. She visited Bowling Green twice

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Speaker 2: to report this story.

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Speaker 3: In like the month between the trips that I took

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Speaker 3: to Bowling Green, there were more advertisements for the weight

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Speaker 3: loss shots. There's like fast food places and then assigned

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Speaker 3: for a weight loss shot on the other side of

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Speaker 3: the road.

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Speaker 2: Madison's been reporting on these drugs, known as glp ones,

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Speaker 2: for over a year now, and she says Bowling Green

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Speaker 2: is not the place she would have expected to find

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Speaker 2: when she started crunching the numbers to identify the location

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Speaker 2: of Ozepic Town, USA. How did you go about pinpointing

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Speaker 2: where the capital actually is?

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Speaker 3: So we got data from an analytics firm called Purple Lab,

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Speaker 3: and so we looked at different zip codes across the

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Speaker 3: US to try to figure out which ones had a

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Speaker 3: really high concentration of weight loss drug users. And there

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Speaker 3: were a few different hot spots, like there was one

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Speaker 3: in Huntsville, Alabama, and a couple of other places. Bowling

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Speaker 3: Green was one of the highest. We could also see

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Speaker 3: that Kentucky as a state has the highest concentration of

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Speaker 3: weight loss drug users, so we figured that that was

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Speaker 3: a good place to look.

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Speaker 2: And what they found was that around four percent of

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Speaker 2: residents in the Bowling Green area had a prescription for

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Speaker 2: a weight loss drug. That's quadruple the rate in the

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Speaker 2: Miami area or Brooklyn, New York. And it's a conservative

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Speaker 2: estimate since some people get off brand versions of the drugs.

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Speaker 2: So what is it about this city that makes it

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Speaker 2: so right for people to use these drugs?

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Speaker 3: Yeah, so the obesity rates there are pretty high, and

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Speaker 3: people there also have the means in many cases to

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Speaker 3: afford these drugs, which are quite expensive. They're like one

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Speaker 3: thousand dollars a month. A lot of big employers there

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Speaker 3: were also covering the drugs, so those conditions sort of

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Speaker 3: made it like the perfect place for these drugs to

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Speaker 3: really take off. And for most people, these drugs work

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Speaker 3: pretty quickly, relatively speaking, and so they tell their cousin,

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Speaker 3: they tell their friends, they tell their whoever, and then

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Speaker 3: it just sort of spreads like wildfire.

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Speaker 2: Madison and her colleagues wanted to know what it's like

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Speaker 2: to live at the very center of America's weight loss

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Speaker 2: drug craze, but the idea that they were at the

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Speaker 2: heart of it all took some people by surprise.

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Speaker 3: Like I remember we went to a place called Posh Salon,

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Speaker 3: and it was funny seeing the women in the salon

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Speaker 3: sort of laugh about ozembic because they're like, what are

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Speaker 3: you talking about? Bowling Greens the capital of you know,

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Speaker 3: ozempic in the US. But then they were all like, actually, yeah,

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Speaker 3: the more that we think about this, everyone we know

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Speaker 3: is on these drugs, including Nikki Wilson, the owner of

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Speaker 3: the salon, who lost like twenty pounds and then stopped

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Speaker 3: taking it. But her clients noticed her weight loss asked

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Speaker 3: her what she was doing I don't.

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Speaker 5: Care to talk about like everybody would us.

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Speaker 3: We know.

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Speaker 5: Also I was yeah, the shots, I wasn't like I'm

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Speaker 5: working out and I'm doing it diet.

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Speaker 3: She told them she was on one of the weight

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Speaker 3: loss shots and says that a lot of her clients

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Speaker 3: ended up going on the shots as well as a result.

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Speaker 5: Yeah, I have a lot of clients that they would too,

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Speaker 5: so one of my guns. She came in yesterday she

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Speaker 5: saw us fourteen parents.

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Speaker 3: Wow.

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Speaker 2: Madison also visited a local doctor in Bowling Green, doctor Suman.

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Speaker 2: Shekar she's been practicing family medicine there for the past

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Speaker 2: decade and when she.

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Speaker 3: Moved to Bowling Green, she was very struck by the

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Speaker 3: number of people with obesity and the number of patients

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Speaker 3: that she was seeing across the board, kids to elderly people,

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Speaker 3: and then the consequences of obesity, so like heart disease

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Speaker 3: and other issues developing in pretty young people.

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Speaker 6: It is much easier to educate a forty year old

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Speaker 6: than like a.

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Speaker 4: Ten to fifteen year old.

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Speaker 6: We have seeing a lot of hypotensive and obese patients

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Speaker 6: in that age.

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Speaker 3: Group, and for a long time she didn't really have

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Speaker 3: that many tools that were effective to help that. Besides

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Speaker 3: diet and exercise, in some of the older weight laws,

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Speaker 3: drugs that weren't as effective, and so she thinks it's

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Speaker 3: a good thing that a lot of patients now are

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Speaker 3: coming in and actually ask her about ozembic because they're

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Speaker 3: hearing about it on TV or on social media. And

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Speaker 3: she's glad that people want to do something about their help.

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Speaker 6: Almost what we put some off auditions autobies. Once they're

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Speaker 6: coming go in and asking go zimbik, it's they're thinking

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Speaker 6: about all this. It's a good and positive thing that

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Speaker 6: the wrong to lose weight. They are inclined dus betterment.

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Speaker 4: Of their help.

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Speaker 2: Like Candy Gray, she's the executive director of a senior

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Speaker 2: living home in Bowling Green.

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Speaker 3: She has a really sort of heartbreaking story because she

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Speaker 3: lost many family members to heart disease and strokes.

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Speaker 7: Within four weeks time. I had lost two brothers to

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Speaker 7: massive heart attacks. Wow, and both of my parents had

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Speaker 7: died of strokes. So that was when, honestly, I took

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Speaker 7: a good long book in the mara and said, Okay,

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Speaker 7: I've got to do something different.

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Speaker 3: That was sort of her turning point. That's why she

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Speaker 3: decided to go on ozembic.

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Speaker 2: What was her experience like on the drug.

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Speaker 3: Yeah, she lost a lot of weight and she had

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Speaker 3: a really good experience, no side effects.

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Speaker 1: The compliments were rolling in.

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Speaker 4: They say, honey, you really lost the weight. What'd you do?

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Speaker 7: It's like, oh, I took him shots like everybuddy else.

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Speaker 3: She was like, I have no shame in telling people

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Speaker 3: that I used these weight loss drugs, because you know,

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Speaker 3: she thinks that they should be destigmatized.

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Speaker 7: Obesity is a disease. Treating obesity it's really no different.

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Speaker 2: How much did it change her eating and drinking habits broadly,

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Speaker 2: and beyond that, maybe social habits as well.

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Speaker 3: Candy is a very social person and was telling us

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Speaker 3: that Southern culture really revolves around eating.

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Speaker 7: He think about it. How many of our social events

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Speaker 7: and I know you know this, they're all surrounded around thoo.

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Speaker 3: And so that was something that was difficult to navigate

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Speaker 3: at first. But she didn't want to give up her

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Speaker 3: social life. She has kids, she has friends, you know,

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Speaker 3: her and her husband go out to Friday night dinners

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Speaker 3: with their friends. It's something that she wasn't willing to

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Speaker 3: give up. So she just figured out how to tailor

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Speaker 3: her experience to the weight loss drugs.

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Speaker 7: Do we still do our every Friday night dinners with

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Speaker 7: our friends Absolutely if we can. Am I eating half

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Speaker 7: of what I used to eat before?

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Speaker 2: Yes, But if eating half of what they used to

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Speaker 2: is good for their health for businesses in Bowling Green,

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Speaker 2: there could be some undesired side effects.

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Speaker 3: One of the main things we were really interested in

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Speaker 3: figuring out in Bowling Green is are these drugs changing

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Speaker 3: the economy?

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Speaker 2: Coming up the surprising ways that Ozepictown, USA's economy has

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Speaker 2: been transformed by these drugs.

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Speaker 3: We keep hearing from analysts and from different companies that

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Speaker 3: these drugs are going to change everything. And the CEO

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Speaker 3: of Nova Noordis told us that he's getting calls from

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Speaker 3: scared food CEOs who are like asking him about the

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Speaker 3: drugs that his company's making.

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Speaker 2: Given these dire warnings, Bloomberg Health reporter Madison Muller told

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Speaker 2: me she'd expect it to see restaurants going out of

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Speaker 2: business and empty gyms in Bowling Green, Kentucky.

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Speaker 3: But the gym's doing fine. The restaurants were all bustling.

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Speaker 3: What you do see is this kind of side economy developing.

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Speaker 2: A side economy. Take, for example, the local GNC a

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Speaker 2: place where you can buy vitamins and supplements.

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Speaker 3: They have all of these supplements right at the front

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Speaker 3: of the store for people that have side effects from

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Speaker 3: the drugs, and the GNC's general manager told me that

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Speaker 3: all of those supplements are extremely popular.

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Speaker 1: She has people coming in all the time asking about them.

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Speaker 2: And then there are new businesses.

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Speaker 3: There's a lot of medical spas that have been popping

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Speaker 3: up in the last couple of years to offer these

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Speaker 3: shots and to offer compounded versions.

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Speaker 1: That are cheaper.

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Speaker 3: So it's like this side economy is sort of developing

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Speaker 3: around ozempic, and if anything, it's actually like boosting some

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Speaker 3: of the businesses there.

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Speaker 2: Candy Gray, who went on ozempic after losing several family

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Speaker 2: members to obestie related health problems. She turned to one

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Speaker 2: of those new alternatives, a telehealth company offering a copycat drug.

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Speaker 7: The first six months I took brand it ozmpic, and

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Speaker 7: the end I no longer qualified for my insurance to

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Speaker 7: pay for it.

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Speaker 2: She says that off brand version costs her about two

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Speaker 2: hundred and fifty dollars a month, and that's a pretty

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Speaker 2: common occurrence in Bowling.

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Speaker 3: Green, says Madison, there's a lot of people that went

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Speaker 3: on these drugs, and even in the course of the

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Speaker 3: couple of months that we were going to Bowling Green

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Speaker 3: and talking to people there, their insurance has stopped covering it.

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Speaker 3: Med Center Health where doctor Shakhar works. That health center

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Speaker 3: was paying for the drugs for m employees but stopped

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Speaker 3: in January, and they're one of the largest employers in

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Speaker 3: Bowling Green. So this is something that's happening across the US,

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Speaker 3: but we're seeing it really acutely in Bowling Green, where

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Speaker 3: there is such a high concentration of people on these

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Speaker 3: drugs and the lack of availability and accessibility is making

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Speaker 3: people seek out alternatives from other places.

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Speaker 2: The four percent of Bowling Green area residents with these

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Speaker 2: drug prescriptions, that doesn't account for all those knockoffs and

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Speaker 2: compounded versions that people get through medical spas or telehealth services.

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Speaker 2: As Madison told us in an episode last month, those

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Speaker 2: versions aren't as regulated as the brand name medications, but

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Speaker 2: they can often be a lot cheaper and easier to get.

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Speaker 3: The problem with that is that there is variability in

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Speaker 3: how good the medications are, how safe they are.

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Speaker 1: Some of them are fine, some of them are not.

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Speaker 2: Madison, what's the takeaway as you see what would the

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Speaker 2: consequences be if more towns, more cities became like Bowling Green.

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Speaker 3: The takeaway from this story is that it's not just

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Speaker 3: Bowling Green. Like we zoomed in on Bowling Green to

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Speaker 3: sort of show what's happening there, but just covering this

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Speaker 3: beat for the last you know, year plus. There's so

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Speaker 3: many themes that we were seeing and hearing in Bowling

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Speaker 3: Green that I have heard from patients all over the

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Speaker 3: US and likely are playing out in other cities across

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Speaker 3: the US.

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Speaker 2: And Madison says those voices from Bowling Green offer a

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Speaker 2: window into what we may hear more of the good

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Speaker 2: and the bad from side effects. My wife's frustrated because

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Speaker 2: at night she wants to have dinner.

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Speaker 6: To get now it's like that's says Sick.

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Speaker 2: To access and affordability.

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Speaker 4: I called every pharmacy in Balling Green. I could not

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Speaker 4: find it anywhere.

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Speaker 2: Nowhere to the way these drugs can transform what's possible

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Speaker 2: for people like Candy Gray.

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Speaker 7: For the first time last year, I went to Colorado

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Speaker 7: and was able to hike seven miles, got to seed

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Speaker 7: spots and do things that I never would have probably

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Speaker 7: been able to do before.

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Speaker 2: This is The Big Take from Bloomberg News. I'm David Gera.

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Speaker 2: This episode was produced by Julia Press. It was fact

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Speaker 2: checked by Jessica Beck and edited by Aaron Edwards and

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Speaker 2: Rebecca Greenfield. It was mixed by Blake Maples. Our senior

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Speaker 2: producers are Kim Gittleson and Naomi Shaven. Our senior editor

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Speaker 2: is Elizabeth Ponso. The Cold Beamster Boor is our executive producer.

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Speaker 2: Sage Bauman is Bloomberg's head of podcasts. Thanks so much

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Speaker 2: for listening. Please follow and review The Big Take wherever

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Speaker 2: you get your podcasts. It helps new listeners find the show.

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Speaker 2: We'll be back tomorrow