The day you've been dreaming of has arrived! FDA approves slimming drug, lose over 20 pounds

The US Food and Drug Administration gave the green light to Zepbound, a new weight-loss drug from maker Eli Lilly, which it showed in clinical trials could help people lose more than 23 pounds in 16 months.

Zepbound is the latest in a line of powerful new slimming drugs that includes Novo Nordisk's Ozempic and Wegovy.

The FDA approved the drug for adults suffering from obesity and it should be available in the US by the end of the year at a price of about $1,060. Such a cost could put the new drug out of the financial reach of many people in the US, given that insurance companies are often reluctant to cover weight-loss drugs and Medicare, by law, does not cover them.

"The current cost is too expensive for the general population,"   said cardiologist Nishant Shah of Duke University in North Carolina.

"We need to be able to reach patients in an affordable way,"  he added. In the United States, an estimated 4 in 10 adults are obese, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Although the drug has a high price, some experts have predicted that it will become the best-selling drug in history.