--- title: "Snack Food Investors Concerned About the Rise of Semaglutide" description: "As Ozempic and Wegovy continue to rush off the selves, snack industry investors are concerned about its appetite suppressing qualities. " date: "2023-10-06" modified: "2023-10-06" authors: - name: "Noor Al-Sibai" job_title: "Senior Staff Writer" link: "https://futurism.com/authors/nooralsibai" url: "https://futurism.com/neoscope/snack-investors-semaglutide" categories: - "Food" - "Future Society" tags: - "food" - "ozempic" - "semaglutide" - "wegovy" --- # Snack Food Investors Concerned About the Rise of Semaglutide ![As Ozempic and Wegovy continue to rush off the selves, snack industry investors are concerned about its appetite suppressing qualities. ]() *\Image: Richard B. Levine / Corbis via Getty / Futurism\* As Ozempic and Wegovy continue to [fly off the selves](), a new opponent has appeared — the snack industry's money people, who seems are concerned about the appetite-suppressing drugs' potential effects on revenue. As the [*Wall Street Journal* reports](), investors behind companies including Campbell's Soup and Conagra Brands, which manufactures Slim Jim meat sticks and Orville Redenbacher popcorn, have been asking tough questions of executives amid the rise of semaglutide, which is the active ingredient in the diabetes injectable Ozempic and its weight loss treatment cousin Wegovy. Semaglutide belongs to a class of drugs known as glucagon-like peptide 1 agonists, or GLP-1 for short, which mimic the natural digestive hormones that control insulin — and, as a side effect, makes you feel full for longer. As such, lots of people who take the medication are [reaching for snacks less](). Whether that's resulting in net-positive health outcomes is an urgent health policy question. But in a tragicomic capitalist twist, to corporations that have made bank off America's highly processed food system, it could represent an existential threat. Campbell's CEO Mark Clouse told *WSJ* that he's watched as Novo Nordisk and Eli Lilly, the companies behind Ozempic and the similar weight loss injectable Mounjaro, [continue to make more and more money](). "That’s a little bit of an 'OK, wait a minute, something is going on here,'" the Campbell's CEO said, though he admitted to the *WSJ* that he doesn't think the drugs alone could cut into snack food profits. Clouse's comments seemed to echo those [given last week to *Bloomberg*]() by Kellanova CEO Steve Cahillane, whose company makes Pringles, Cheez-Its, and Rice Krispy Treats. In his interview, the chief executive said that while it's too soon to tell whether semaglutide drugs are going to take a substantial bite out of his industry's profit margins, he is "by no means complacent" about their jump in popularity. "Like everything that potentially impacts our business, we'll look at it, study it and, if necessary, mitigate," Cahillane told *Bloomberg*. As the Kellanova CEO acknowledged, these drugs are less of a concern now in their "very, very early days," but given that [drugmakers are fighting each other]() to put out an oral semaglutide pill, it's likely only a matter of time before they become even more widely used. While the drugs are still fairly niche — especially considering that they're currently quite difficult to get one's hands on — [Morgan Stanley predicted]() in early September that by 2035, 24 million Americans, which account for close to seven percent of the total population, will be on semaglutide. The food industry should, the banking giant suggested, start planning accordingly. And already, as [*CNN* recently reported](), a whopping 1.7 percent of Americans, or roughly 5.68 million people, have been prescribed semaglutide drugs in 2023, though it's likely that far less of them are actually taking it because of a massive [months-long shortage](). Even that small a percentage point is significant, however, and the industry is right to be keeping an eye on it. While the bottom lines of massive snack manufacturers aren't exactly of concern to the average American, this industrial pushback does indicate that semaglutide has brought about a paradigm shift in its explosive popularity — and we all would do well to watch it. **More on semaglutide:** [*The FDA Says Ozempic Might Block Your Intestines*]() ## Author At Futurism, I've often been drawn to unpacking the narratives that underlie technological, scientific and medical progress, with a special interest in areas of conflict and ambiguity that end up setting agendas and steering the fates of both elites and the hoi polloi. I'm a committed generalist, but I often find myself returning to work involving NASA and the private space sector, the effects of AI on media and society, and the mechanics of the pharmaceutical industry, with a specific focus on the spread of GLP-1 drugs like Ozempic and Wegovy. Prior to Futurism, I worked for publications ranging from Media Matters and Truthdig to Raw Story and Bustle. I'm also the author of "Myspace Scene Queens," a 2024 title in Instar Books' acclaimed "Remember the Internet" series. My work at Futurism has been cited by outlets including the New Yorker, Slate, Nieman Lab, the Verge, the MIT Technology Review, the Sunday Times, and the Daily Beast. I grew up in North Carolina, attended the University of North Carolina at Asheville, and now live in Brooklyn, New York. In my free time, I'm an avid reader and music fan; you can probably find me at a local poetry reading, concert, underground rave, or DJ set. I'm the proud parent of an ineffable orange cat named Mee-Mow. ### Author social links [Bluesky]()