Week in Review: Pharma Under Trump & Your Gucci’s Brand-New Microchip

From Trump’s pharma drama to microscopic chips playing fashion police, 2025 is already interesting—to say the least. First, while Big Pharma nervously watches Trump and RFK Jr. take the reins, Eli Lilly’s living its best life in the weight loss wars as others struggle to catch up. Speaking of catching up, America’s food supply chain finally got its act together in 2024—though your wallet might beg to differ. Meanwhile, modern-day highway robbers are having a field day with cargo theft, prompting shippers to spend more on insurance policies. In the luxury world, designer brands are going full James Bond with spy-worthy microchips to catch counterfeiters, while up north, Canada’s food industry is flexing its muscles in response to U.S. tariff threats. Get your popcorn ready!

Trump vs. Tummy Tucks: Big Pharma’s 2025 Reality Show

Wall Street tends to cheer when Republicans win the White House. However, the pharma world might want to hold off on popping champagne after Donald Trump’s victory. His pick of Robert F. Kennedy Jr. for health secretary signals choppy waters ahead for an industry already battling economic headwinds, Medicare drug price negotiations, and fierce competition in hot markets such as obesity treatments.

New Sheriff(s) in Town: Trump’s Team Could Shake Up the Status Quo

Martin Makary appears headed for FDA commissioner—a relatively conventional choice. But his potential boss, RFK Jr., has railed against vaccines and dubbed the FDA an enemy of public health. The combo creates major question marks around key policies, especially with Medicare set to reveal its next batch of drugs targeted for price negotiations by Feb. 1. Wegovy, Ozempic, and other blockbuster drugs could land in the crosshairs.

Can Anyone Catch Eli Lilly in the Weight Loss Gold Rush?

Eli Lilly grabbed bragging rights when its obesity drug Zepbound beat Novo Nordisk’s Wegovy in a head-to-head trial. Now Lilly leads the pack in developing next-generation treatments—while rivals stumble. Pfizer’s oral weight loss drug hit speed bumps in trials. Amgen’s monthly shot disappointed. Even Novo had setbacks with experimental drugs. The obesity market’s massive potential has Wall Street watching closely—but so far, it looks like Lilly’s race to lose. Upcoming trial results later this year could further cement its dominance—or give competitors an opening.

Finally Some Good News: Food Supply Chain Gets Its Act Together in 2024

Remember those empty grocery shelves that made everyone panic-buy pasta in 2022? Well, now you can breathe easy: America’s food supply chain staged an impressive comeback. According to Purdue University’s latest Consumer Food Insights Report, stockouts dropped to 9.5% in 2024—a marked improvement from the stomach-churning 19.3% two years ago.

Supply Chain Chaos? Not Like You Think.

The pandemic, bird flu outbreaks, and global conflicts threw major curveballs at food suppliers, but they learned to roll with the punches. Joseph Balagtas, who led the Purdue study, pointed to the falling stockout rates as proof that our food system bounced back stronger. Manufacturers and retailers figured out how to keep shelves stocked—despite continued market turbulence.

Your Wallet Might Need a Pep Talk, Though

While finding your favorite foods got easier, paying for them remains a different story. Weekly grocery bills climbed to $193 in 2024, up from $178 in 2022. Food inflation sits at 2.4%, and consumers expect prices to keep creeping up. So, while the days of hunting store to store for essential ingredients may be behind us, the sticker shock at checkout still packs quite a punch.

Cargo Bandits Gone Wild: Why Insurance Became the New Must-Have

Trucks loaded with millions now vanish faster than free doughnuts in the break room. That reality check pushed 90% of shippers to grab insurance policies in 2024 after watching cargo theft skyrocket 14%—making off with $39 million worth of goods across 800 incidents in Q3 alone.

Highway Robbery 2.0: Meet Your Modern Freight Bandits

Real-life cargo theft incidents net more than $1 million per score—beating any Hollywood script. Today’s freight bandits rock everything from dramatic highway hijackings to smooth-talking impersonators who could teach con artists a thing or two. Bonus points for creativity go to the opportunistic grab-and-run crews who treat slowing trucks like their personal shopping carts.

Sorry, We Don’t Cover That: The Insurance VIP (Very Impossible to Protect) List

Want coverage for your tobacco, pharmaceuticals, cannabis, or firearms shipment? Insurance companies run from these items like cats from cucumbers. Their selective taste extends to surprisingly mundane cargo too—used furniture, anything needing temperature control, and even phones make the no-go list. Factor in Mother Nature’s unpredictability, disappearing acts from liquid cargo, and settlement during transit, and you’ll understand why the cargo insurance market exploded to $57.06 billion in 2024—growing at 4.3% CAGR. Global trade demands protection, whether insurers want to give it or not.

Chip Happens: Luxury’s Sneaky New Weapon Against Fakes

Goodbye, sketchy street hustlers, hello James Bond-level tech. While counterfeiters rake in a whopping $464 billion yearly pushing fake designer goods, luxury brands have cooked up something straight out of a spy movie: microscopic chips that make fakes fold faster than a cheap knockoff wallet.

Bougie & Brainy

Meet your bag’s new best friend—a paper-thin chip living its best life at just 0.5 millimeters thick. It’s waterproof, temperature proof, and ready to spill all the tea about whether that “amazing deal” is actually amazing—or just amazingly fake. One phone tap and boom: you’ll know if your splurge is the real deal or belongs in the “nice try” pile.

Flex Files: The Secret Life of Your Stuff

Pop quiz: where was your designer bag before it became your arm candy? With these tiny tattletales embedded in authentic pieces, every luxury item becomes its own storyteller. Using blockchain, shoppers unlock the whole story—from factory floor flexing to VIP perks. Plus, brands slide into your DMs with exclusive drops and behind-the-scenes gossip that’ll make your authentic piece feel like membership to the VIP club.

Uncle Sam’s Tariff Threats Could Turn Canada into a Food-Making Powerhouse

U.S. tariff threats might kick Canada’s food production into high gear. While some companies eye the border like teenagers planning a midnight escape, others smell a golden opportunity to cook up something special on home soil.

Kitchen Comeback: The Great Canadian Food Revival

Canada’s food production muscles got flabby over the years—but there’s nothing like a pandemic and trade drama to whip a country back into shape. Some heavy hitters are already flexing: Hershey’s boomeranging back to Ontario, McCain’s is doubling its Alberta kitchen, and a shiny new soy facility is joining the party. Expert Michael Graydon does warn that the government needs to spot producers on this lift or they’ll keep dropping the weights.

Hot Potato: A Trade Game Nobody Asked For

The stakes feel especially high for products Canada heavily depends on the U.S. for importing—think fruits, vegetables, and processed foods such as jams and snacks. Tyler McCann, from the Canadian Agri-Food Policy Institute, sees both risk and reward: while 25% tariffs could send some companies packing south, they might also push Canada to finally beef up production in vulnerable sectors. Tech advances mean growing fresh produce year round is now possible—offering a tasty opportunity to reduce U.S. dependence. That said, many business groups warn that some companies might freeze expansion plans faster than a Canadian winter without government support to weather potential tariffs.

What’s Next: Your Move

In a year when everything from pharma to fashion is getting a tech upgrade, real-time shipment visibility and real-time tracking have become essential weapons in your business arsenal. So, what can you do about it?

Arm yourself with innovation: Let Tive lead the way in transforming your supply chain operations. Embrace the future of logistics—get started with Tive today.

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