Insights · GPS Weekly
Who shapes what AI says about obesity
GPS Weekly · Issue 1 · 2 November 2026 · Signal Fidelity Group
Ask a search-grounded AI assistant four basic questions about obesity drugs, and here is who it reads. Not the reporters, KOLs and societies comms teams brief: a pharmacy-coupon site, WeightWatchers, a telehealth prescriber, a UK weight-loss programme and one Los Angeles health system.
- No guideline body, journal or regulator holds a single source slot on the four obesity questions, for the third run in a row (38 slots).
- Neither Lilly's nor Novo's own sites appear. Lilly's domains have held zero slots in ten consecutive runs since August. Their prices and labels reach the answer secondhand, through SingleCare and Ro.
- The "experts" are mostly content writers and contracted medical reviewers. Only one named specialist is quoted as the expert in any answer.
The who's who, ranked by how much of the answer they hold
1. SingleCare (pharmacy discount coupons)
People on the page: Wendy Wisner, writer; medically reviewed by Anne Jacobson, MD, MPH.
Where it shows up: insurance question, ranks 1, 2 and 9. Also two slots on "How much does Ozempic cost without insurance?" Its share of the panel has held for ten consecutive runs.
Why it matters: a coupon business answers the coverage question. Its Zepbound page prints Lilly's $25 co-pay and $349/$499 self-pay prices and links zepbound.lilly.com: the brand's numbers, carried by someone else.
How to engage: editorial and medical-review desk, on accuracy, current pricing and coverage nuance.
2. WeightWatchers
People on the page: Deanna Pai, writer; Matthew Poplin, writer, medically reviewed by Nicholas VandenBosch, D.O.
Where it shows up: side-effects question, ranks 3, 4 and 6. Also on the Ozempic cost question.
Why it matters: WW sells its own GLP-1 clinic and Med+ programmes, and it is the most-cited source on GLP-1 side effects. Its review page links the Lilly and Novo package inserts.
How to engage: its clinical content team. A channel and a commercial player at once.
3. Keck Medicine of USC
People on the page: Mollie Barnes, writer; the expert quoted is Alyssa Dominguez, MD, endocrinologist.
Where it shows up: "Regular doctor or specialist?", ranks 1, 2 and 3.
Why it matters: the one named specialist in the whole answer set. Her line, "Many general practitioners don't feel comfortable prescribing obesity medication," is the answer to whether a primary-care doctor can start treatment.
How to engage: medical affairs and health-system comms. Dominguez is the name to know this week.
4. Ro (telehealth prescriber)
People on the page: Amelia Willson and Patricia Weiser, PharmD, writers; reviewed by Raagini Yedidi, MD.
Where it shows up: efficacy question rank 6; insurance question rank 3; rank 1 on the Ozempic cost question.
Why it matters: a company that prescribes and sells Zepbound and Wegovy sits inside the efficacy, coverage and cost answers. Its pages cite the FDA labels and Lilly's savings card.
How to engage: a competitor and partner surface, not a pitch. Watch what its pages say about your brand.
5. Second Nature (UK weight-loss programme)
People on the page: no author or date printed.
Where it shows up: efficacy question ("tirzepatide vs semaglutide"), rank 1.
Why it matters: a UK programme selling Mounjaro and Wegovy plans from £229 a month holds the top slot on a US efficacy question. Its headline figure, tirzepatide "up to 26%", cites "one study", unnamed.
How to engage: nothing to pitch. This is the answer that better-sourced content has to displace.
6. PatientsLikeMe
People on the page: no author printed; content "reported by our members".
Where it shows up: side-effects question, rank 1.
Why it matters: a patient community, not a clinical source, leads the side-effects answer.
How to engage: community norms only. Not a pitch.
7. AARP
People on the page: Rachel Nania, health editor and writer.
Where it shows up: side-effects question, rank 2.
Why it matters: the 50-plus consumer voice. A real journalist, with a page updated January 2025.
How to engage: pitchable. The one consumer editor in the set.
8. Patient Care Online and Healio (MJH and Healio trade)
People on the page: Grace Halsey (Patient Care Online, 8 July 2024).
Where it shows up: efficacy question, Healio rank 2, Patient Care rank 5.
Why it matters: the only trade titles in any obesity answer, and both are carrying 2024 real-world data (Truveta, JAMA Internal Medicine), not the 2025 SURMOUNT-5 head-to-head.
How to engage: pitchable trade desks. The ones that feed the answer layer.
9. Weill Cornell Center for Metabolic Health
People on the page: no author printed.
Where it shows up: efficacy question, rank 7.
Why it matters: the only source in the efficacy answer that gives SURMOUNT-5: 20.2% vs 13.7% weight loss at 72 weeks. It ranks seventh.
How to engage: academic centre, through a medical-affairs relationship.
10. Cecelia Health (virtual care)
People on the page: Jada Gimenez, RN, CCM.
Where it shows up: side-effects question, ranks 7 and 8.
Why it matters: a virtual-care company that sells "Patient Support for Pharma" programmes is itself a source in the answer.
How to engage: partner surface.
Who shouldn't be there
Six of the 38 slots go to pages with no business answering a health question:
- Three Zepbound insurance pages on a University of Manchester museum subdomain (live.museum.manchester.ac.uk). No author, no date, nothing about a museum.
- A medical-imaging vendor's demo site and a WordPress development site on the side-effects question.
- An entrepreneurship network's Kolkata chapter on whether to ask your doctor.
Who's missing
Every guideline body (the Obesity Medicine Association, ADA, AACE, The Obesity Society), every journal page, the FDA, both manufacturers' own sites, the Obesity Action Coalition, and the business and trade reporters most comms teams brief first: STAT, Endpoints, BioPharma Dive, Reuters, NBC. Of 33 outlet and channel domains on our obesity media list, 32 are absent from all four obesity questions.
What to do with it
- Brand and digital: your prices, label and savings offers reach the answer through SingleCare, Ro and WeightWatchers. Read those pages as if they were yours, because to the patient they are.
- Medical affairs: the efficacy answer rests on a UK programme's unattributed figures and 2024 real-world data. The pivotal head-to-head appears once, at rank seven.
- Media relations: for the answer layer, the journalists who matter this week are AARP's Rachel Nania and the Healio and Patient Care Online desks, not the business press.
How we measured it
Four frozen questions, one grounded web search each, run ten times since August and most recently on 25 October; re-run on 27 October with the same sources in the same order. Every named person was read on the page itself on 27 October. This shows what a search-grounded assistant has available to read on each question, not what any assistant told a particular user.
The four questions: How much weight can you lose on tirzepatide compared with semaglutide? · What are the most common side effects of GLP-1 weight loss drugs? · Does insurance cover Wegovy or Zepbound for weight loss? · Should I see my regular doctor or a specialist to start a weight loss medication?
- SingleCare: Is Zepbound covered by insurance?
- WeightWatchers: Side effects · Management
- Keck Medicine of USC: Do you need to see a specialist?
- Ro: Insurance coverage · Switching guide
- Second Nature: Tirzepatide vs semaglutide
- PatientsLikeMe: Community post
- AARP: Weight loss medication side effects
- Patient Care Online: Tirzepatide vs semaglutide data
- Healio: Real-world weight loss data
- Weill Cornell: Metabolic Health guide
- Cecelia Health: Managing side effects
Manchester Museum Subdomain: Zepbound insurance page
GPS is Signal Fidelity Group's map of who shapes what people and AI read about each therapy area.