Design an Economist cover
Here is a cover-length editorial on the virtues of GLP-1 receptor agonists, such as Ozempic and Wegovy. Dedicated readers will recognise it from our edition of October 26th 2024. We would like you to design an alternative cover to ours, with your own headline, and to send it as a pdf attachment to [email protected] by Monday February 3rd.
The three best entries will each receive a copy of our new “Cover Story” book, which assembles our covers of 2024 week by week. Anybody can enter, so please pass on these details to the budding designers among your friends and family. Good luck!
E very day seems to bring more exciting news. First the drugs tackled diabetes. Then, with just an injection a week, they took on obesity. Now they are being found to treat cardiovascular and kidney disease, and are being tested for Alzheimer’s and addiction. It is early days yet, but glp-1 receptor agonists have all the makings of one of the most successful classes of drugs in history. As they become cheaper and easier to use, they promise to dramatically improve the lives of more than a billion people—with profound consequences for industry, the economy and society.
In the three years since semaglutide was approved for treating obesity, it has taken America by storm. After decades of disappointing “miracle cures”, these drugs work. Image-conscious influencers and well-heeled financiers are not their only users. Already one in eight American adults has been on glp-1 drugs. Novo Nordisk, maker of semaglutide, branded Ozempic for diabetes and Wegovy for weight loss, and Eli Lilly, which makes tirzepatide, a more effective alternative, have together added around $1trn in market value since 2021.
