At one point in time not too long ago, Weight Watchers was the legacy name in weight loss treatment.

Armed with an endorsement from board member Oprah Winfrey, everything was turning up Weight Watchers – until it wasn’t..

Usurped by powerful weight loss drugs manufactured by Eli Lilly and Novo Nordisk – along with ascendant telehealth firms like Ro, Hims & Hers, and Noom – Weight Watchers went into significant decline.

Ultimately, even Oprah left the company and donated her shares.

In May 2025, Weight Watchers filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in order to eliminate around $1.5 billion in debt. It emerged from bankruptcy in July and now has its sights set on repositioning itself as a key player in the GLP-1 age.

But what is Weight Watchers’ function in 2026?

This week, managing editor Jack O’Brien is joined by Scott Honken, PharmD, chief commercial officer at Weight Watchers, for an update on the company’s current standing in the GLP-1 landscape, where it’s been and where it’s going.

In lieu of our Trends segment, we have some audio takeouts from Jack’s time at SXSW, featuring leaders from Amgen, Marina Maher Communications and Compass Pathways.

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Music: “Deep Reflection” by DP and Triple Scoop Music.

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The world of pharma marketing continues to evolve with multiple ongoing challenges: creating more results with less resources, navigating political and economic uncertainties, overcoming a less than favorable industry public perception and adapting to the ever-present impact of AI. What remains in place throughout all of these variables is the client and AOR relationship. In this podcast we discuss multiple ways in which this relationship can evolve to help foster stronger, truer strategic partnership resulting in greater wins and achievement for both sides.

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Music: “Deep Reflection” by DP and Triple Scoop Music.

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If you followed along with managing editor Jack O’Brien’s live blog from SXSW last week, you’ll know that he spoke with a number of key medical marketing leaders on the ground in Austin.

Those takeouts, including insights from Amgen, Marina Maher Communications and Compass Pathways, will be featured in next week’s podcast.

For this week’s pod, we have an important conversation further tying in pharma brands to the world of sports.

We’re joined by Pro Football Hall of Famer Barry Sanders, who serves as a spokesperson for Amgen in its campaign raising awareness about cardiovascular disease, namely LDL, or “bad” cholesterol.

Sanders, who suffered a heart attack in 2024, has partnered with the pharma giant to use his stature as the greatest living running back to raise awareness around LDL-C testing.

He has starred in The Making of a Heart Attack documentary sponsored by Amgen and also participated in a panel discussion about the issue at SXSW.

And for our Trends segment, you’ll hear from Jameson Fleming, Steve Madden, Lecia Bushak with a preview of the 2026 MM+M Transform conference scheduled for next Tuesday, March 31 in downtown Manhattan.

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Music: “Deep Reflection” by DP and Triple Scoop Music.

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In this episode of our ongoing series celebrating MM+M’s 60th Anniversary, editor-at-large Steve Madden sits down with David Paragamian, CEO of Health Monitor Network, to explore the principles that drive successful leadership in the pharmaceutical and marketing industries. Paragamian shares insights from his professional journey to explain why intentionality is the secret to effective recruitment and team building. They discuss how small projects can offer the most significant leadership breakthroughs, the non-negotiable value of writing and communication in business, why true resilience is forged through personal challenges rather than just corporate ones and the formative experience of working for P&G right out of college.

And in this week's Trends segment, Madden and MM+M editor-in-chief Jameson Fleming dive into the "therapeutic" power of writing, reflect on Madden's book Embrace the Suck and discuss the modern challenge of balancing a high-stakes career with family life and personal passions like CrossFit.

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Music: “Deep Reflection” by DP and Triple Scoop Music.

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Ahead of SXSW, this interview with Justin Freid, chief media & innovation officer explores CMI Media Group's insights into the emerging technologies and cross-industry innovations set to reshape healthcare marketing and patient engagement. It specifically addresses how artificial intelligence is revolutionizing media planning, personalizing experiences and enhancing communication with healthcare professionals, alongside the unique opportunities and challenges it presents for pharma marketers. The discussion ultimately reveals how these advancements, driven by the "consumerization of healthcare," will demand innovative digital solutions and communication strategies from brands in the immediate future.

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Music: “Deep Reflection” by DP and Triple Scoop Music.

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When MM+M set out to hire a new reporter, there were a few characteristics that we were looking for.

We wanted a reporter who was able to file clean copy on tight deadlines while also possessing the soft skills to effectively network and participate in our live events.

Most of the reporters we interviewed fit the bill, so one of the differentiators would ultimately come down to experience with healthcare reporting and covering our little corner of the world.

That’s where Bella Czajkowski stood out.

Bella joined MM+M with great familiarity of the healthcare industry, both from her time most recently spent as the newsletter editor for Essen Health Care, as well as working at Kaiser Health News’ Arm and a Leg podcast and the Global Health Reporting Center.

Yet it was her work as the national correspondent for The 340B Report – covering an arcane, opaque federal health program – that stood out most.

That’s why we’re spending this week’s episode formally welcoming her on to the podcast, unpacking what she’s learned over the first month on the job and what she hopes to achieve as part of the MM+M team going forward.

And for our Trends segment, we’re talking about the coming end of Vinay Prasad’s chaotic tenure at the FDA.

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Music: “Deep Reflection” by DP and Triple Scoop Music.

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Regulations governing AI are more than likely on their way – but a lot of unknowns remain. Some might say too many unknowns remain, which isn’t great for business.

While clear, comprehensive regulations for AI are widely expected – and requested – by nearly every sector of the economy, there’s plenty we don’t know.

That said, business leaders can not and will not operate in the dark.

Executives in our orbit, whether leading drug manufacturers, major medical marketing agencies or health media companies, require at least a sense of what’s on the horizon.

This week, pharma editor Lecia Bushak speaks with Darshan Kulkarni, a pharma regulatory consultant and founding partner at his namesake law firm. Their conversation explores the potential of new laws and regulations around AI use cases in medical marketing, such as digital avatars.

And for our Trends segment, we’re talking about Bayer’s lawsuit against Johnson & Johnson for its marketing practices around a prostate cancer drug. Plus, we are graced with a dramatic reading of Steve Madden’s satirical FDA Untitled Letter to ESPN over their faux pharma ad for March Madness.

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Music: “Deep Reflection” by DP and Triple Scoop Music.

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Since podcasting came into existence in the mid-2000s, the space has become increasingly popular, remarkably lucrative and unquestionably saturated.

Still, despite the countless millions of podcasts out there, countless millions of people tune in every hour of every day for conversations about every topic – including healthcare.

Joining a world occupied by This Past Weekend, Good Hang and The MM+M Podcast is The Persistence Lab.

Launched by AbbVie’s corporate affairs team, The Persistence Lab is the pharma giant’s 10-episode project to highlight the work undertaken by its researchers, the clinical expertise of HCPs as well as the lived experiences of patients.

The first episode of The Persistence Lab was released late last week and is available wherever you listen to your podcasts.

Molly James-Lundak, VP of R&D communications at AbbVie, joined me for a slightly meta conversation about joining the podcast sphere, how the drugmaker brought the idea to life and why it was important to engage with audio content creation.

And for our Trends segment, we’re talking about AI in healthcare: Including the tools that actually work, the regulations on the way and the concerns that never go away.

Music: “Deep Reflection” by DP and Triple Scoop Music.

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Music: “Deep Reflection” by DP and Triple Scoop Music.

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