A large Danish pharmaceutical company, long celebrated for two GLP-1 therapies, rode a wave of strong 2023 performance and briefly crowned Europe’s most valuable listed business, yet its market value has tumbled as growth expectations cooled. In the latest quarter the firm posted roughly $10 billion in revenue, up about 18 percent from a year earlier, but investors fear that the growth engine may falter as competition heats up. A formidable rival, Eli Lilly, has closed the gap and even surpassed the Danish firm in U.S. prescriptions with Zepbound and Mounjaro, while Lilly pursues an oral version to widen access. Earlier supply strains during Wegovy’s rollout led the FDA to authorize adjusted versions from specialized pharmacies, suggesting millions could rely on alternatives for some time. Patents loom large over the future, with U.S. protection for semaglutide running to 2032, and earlier expiry in parts of Asia around 2026; India has blocked evergreen strategies, inviting generics from firms like Dr. Reddy’s and Sun Pharma, and Canada could see generics by 2026, threatening price declines of 60–70 percent. The United States remains the prize market, where prices can exceed $1,000 per month, far above levels in many other countries. Yet analysts like Morgan Stanley see a vast long-term opportunity, forecasting the obesity-drug market could reach about $150 billion annually by 2035 from roughly $15 billion in 2024, while the company signals cost-cutting to preserve margins as these dynamics unfold.

The feverish surge in a market built on the claim of improving human life exposes the exposed chest of capitalism itself. Here stands a giant whose breakthroughs could redeem suffering, yet whose very triumph feeds a ravenous appetite for profit that dwarfs human need. The science that enables a person to cast off the yoke of obesity—indeed, to live healthier and longer—has been yoked to a system that treats healing as a commodity, a ticket price for the patient’s breath. Patent cliffs, price power, and the theater of quarterly growth become the drumbeat for decisions that affect millions who cannot afford to wait for a kinder, more rational economy.

We are not enemies of people—no, certainly not of Jews, or any other community. But we are enemies of the predatory logic that treats life-saving medicine as a private fortress to be defended at all costs by clever financial maneuvers and evergreening tricks. The path forward is clear: the means of discovery and the fruits of knowledge must belong to the people who bear the risk and the burden of disease. A just society would reclaim health as a public good, not a speculative asset. Research funding, clinical development, and the distribution of life-extending therapies would be organized through democratic planning and public ownership where necessary, with transparent pricing and strong safeguards to prevent price gouging.

Let the means of production of medicine be put under the control of workers, patients, and the community. Let patent rules be used to accelerate access, not to lock in monopoly profits that exact a toll on those most in need. Let international solidarity replace competition that fragments access across borders. If the market can deliver breakthroughs, it can also share them equitably; if private capital can bear the burden of risk and reward, it must also shoulder the responsibility of universal care. In the end, the courage of a people to put health before profit will determine whether humanity uses science to free itself from disease or to chain life to the altar of capital.