Kennedy Weighs In on GLP-1 Drugs Amid Health Secretary Nomination
Robert F. Kennedy Jr., President-elect Donald Trump’s nominee for the nation’s top health position, provided more insight into his stance on GLP-1s, the rapidly growing class of weight-loss drugs, on Thursday.
Speaking from the New York Stock Exchange, where he accompanied other cabinet nominees for the opening bell ceremony, Kennedy emphasized his belief in a lifestyle-focused approach to health. “The first line of response should be lifestyle,” he told CNBC’s Jim Cramer. “It should be eating well, making sure you that you don’t get obese, and that those GLP drugs have a place.”
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Kennedy’s prior criticism of GLP-1 drugs has drawn a great deal of attention on Wall Street since his nomination was announced last month. As President-elect Trump’s chosen leader for the Department of Health and Human Services– overseeing agencies like the Food and Drug Administration and Centers for Disease Control and Prevention — Kennedy’s views on these medications carry weight. Confirmation by the Senate is required before he assumes the role. Until then, investors are closely watching him, attempting to discern what his tenure might mean for healthcare policy.
Recent years have seen GLP-1s surge in popularity, fueled by the success of medications like Novo Nordisk’s Wegovy and Ozempic, as well as Eli Lilly’s Zepbound and Mounjaro. This success has sparked a race within the pharmaceutical industry to develop competing treatments, driving both optimism and concern. Share values for pharmaceutical giants Novo and Eli Lilly have soared as investor confidence grows in their dominance in this burgeoning market. Lilly itself has become the world’s most valuable healthcare company.
Some analysts predict that the market for GLP-1 drugs could reach a staggering $100 billion by 2030. More than two years ago, Cramer himself predicted that the active ingredient behind Lilly’s Zepbound and Mounjaro could become the best-selling drug of all time. Cramer’s Charitable Trust, the portfolio managed by his CNBC Investing Club, has held a stake in Lilly since 2021.
Kennedy has previously voiced support for capping drug prices in the U.S., specifically mentioning Novo’s Ozempic in an argument that appeared in The Wall Street Journal last September. On the same social media platform, he asserted that these weight-loss drugs did not address the “root” cause of obesity and served primarily to “gladden the wallets of distant Big Pharma execs.”
During Thursday’s exchange with Cramer, Kennedy also addressed the candidate’s well-documented skepticism surrounding childhood vaccines, despite numerous studies debunking a link to autism. Cramer directly asked Kennedy if he opposed “all vaccines.” Kennedy responded, “Yeah, that’s untrue.”
