Jenny Craig, the famed company known for helping women lose weight by modifying their diets, will reportedly close its doors after failing to secure new financing.

NBC News, citing internal communications at the company, reported that an email was sent out late Tuesday and informed employees that their last day was Friday. (See “GET FAT, TAKE DRUGS: WEIGHT-LOSS PILL BONANZA, JENNY CRAIG DEALS WITH INDUSTRY HEADWINDS,” 2 May 2023.)

The Carlsbad, California-based company, which opened in 1983, alerted some of its staffers last week that there is a potential of mass layoffs and that they all should be prepared to be cut. There are about 600 Jenny Craig weight-loss centers across the U.S.

Weight-loss centers like Jenny Craig are becoming a thing of the past because new drugs are hitting the market that suppress appetites that are seen as a potential silver bullet for obesity. (See “WEIGHT-LOSS SURGERY FOR CHILDREN IN U.S. JUMPS…WHO CARES ABOUT DIET?” 25 Apr 2023.) 

About 1,000 people lost their jobs.

CNN noted that the website is no longer active and customers were informed that “all auto-delivery subscriptions have been canceled.” The message said “all coaching sessions, food orders, and merchandise sales have ceased online and in corporate centers.”

TRENDPOST: The Trends Journal has reported extensively on the U.S.’s obesity problem. (See “THE AMERICAN WAY: FAT, DUMB, AND STUFFED WITH SANDWICHES” 21 Mar 2023, “KEEP SWALLOWING SHIT NEWS AND EATING SHIT FOOD: MORE THAN HALF OF HUMANITY WILL BE FAT, OBESE BY 2035” 7 Mar 2023, and “FAT, DUMB, AND BROKE: HIGH-FAT DIET HINDERS BRAIN’S ABILITY TO COMMUNICATE WITH STOMACH” 31 Jan 2023.)

The type-2 diabetes drug called Ozempic has been growing in popularity because it blocks the brain’s hunger signals, and “causes the stomach to empty more slowly, leading people to feel full for longer,” The New York Times reported. 

The drug has become popular among celebrities. Sharon Osbourne came out last week to praise the drug’s virtues. Osbourne said she lost 30 pounds while using weight-loss injections.

Dr. Ania Jastreboff, an obesity medicine physician scientist at Yale University, told People that patients need to continue taking the medication or they will gain weight again.

“If you have a patient who has high blood pressure, they have hypertension, and you start them on an antihypertensive medication, and their blood pressure improves, what would happen if you stopped that medication? Well, their blood pressure would go back up—and we’re not surprised. It’s the same with anti-obesity medications,” she said.

While Jenny Craig goes under, business is booming for Big Pharma.

Novo Nordisk said it will limit the supply of its weight-loss drug Wegovy because demand has outpaced the company’s ability to manufacture the product, according to CNN.