Iovate’s CIO on opportunities in a changing weight management sector
U.S. regulatory approval of GLP-1 receptor agonist drugs was a category disrupting event, and sales of weight management supplements declined 14% year-over-year, according to SPINS.
Dietary supplements brands are rapidly adjusting to the new paradigm, including Iovate Health Sciences, which has category-leading brands like Hydroxycut.
“Hydroxycut in particular is definitely being impacted,” Raza Bashir, chief innovation officer at Iovate, told NutraIngredients-USA. “And it's really interesting to watch, right?
Bashir noted that consumers are seeking to just shut off the hunger signal, and GLP-1 drugs gives them the “solution for losing weight kind of effortlessly […], and that's why these drugs are working so well.”
However, he noted that many consumers are not accessing the drugs, perhaps because of concerns about side effects or costs or because the drugs just haven’t been available for long, which affects confidence.
“So, there is large group of people looking first for natural alternatives,” he said. “That's where we come in, and we realize this. We've been watching the market, really trying to understand the consumer. We know our consumer well, and we know there is an opportunity there.”
Bashir added that there is also a group of people who are actively taking the GLP-1 drugs, and for those consumers, they are looking for solutions relating to the potential side effects. Another group of consumers is looking for solutions after they stop taking the drugs.
“We're thinking in a couple ways,” he said. “One of the unfortunate impacts of people using it is they're losing a lot of muscle. I think the awareness of that among people in the industry, we know that pretty well. The general consumer, they're still looking at the scale. That's the most important thing to them, but you typically want to have better body composition, lean body composition. You're more actively burning calories, even at rest, so our goal is to help in that scenario, right?
“How do we help people either hold on to their muscle but the same time, suppress that hunger […] basically keep the metabolism moving so they're still burning calories.”
Weight Management Summit 2025
NutraIngredients-USA has partnered with Iovate Health Science to host the Weight Management Summit, which will take place at the Hyatt Regency Mission Bay Hotel, San Diego on Wednesday, Feb. 19, 2025, from 8:30 a.m. to 2:00 p.m.
The event will cover a range of topics, particularly the state of the market, the science behind natural alternatives touted to have GLP-1 agonist activity, supporting GLP-1 drugs and their side effects, and how best to communicate all this to consumers.
Commenting on the summit, Bashir said: “The biggest thing is we want to share as much knowledge on the whole universe of GLP: how consumers are thinking about it, success stories, natural alternatives (there's so much there).
“Also just bringing the right minds together. Talk about solutions, talk about how we can work together. Really, people help overcome this, elevate the knowledge in this space.”
For more information and register your place now, please click HERE.
