Sounds like very low dosages; for comparison:

https://dom-pubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/dom.147...

> mean weight loss was 17.3% (SD: 9.3%) with [2.4mg] semaglutide and 2.0% (SD: 6.1%) with placebo

Re financing, they’re incredibly expensive in the US, but in the UK Ozempic ends up being ~£200 a month, and many people seem to find they save that much in food costs. Also this stuff is dead easy to manufacture, every pharma company seems to have their own version in the pipeline, and some of the very first versions (eg liraglutide, from memory) aren’t too far off patent expiry.