Novo Nordisk CEO Mike Doustdar on Wednesday said the company is aiming to capture around 15 million new patients, at least initially, when Medicare starts covering obesity treatments for the first time later this year.

Around 67 million Americans are covered by Medicare, but “when you take a look at specifically our products and the target group, I think around 15 million people would be a good number to target,” he told CNBC in an interview. 

Medicare is slated to start covering obesity medicines for the first time later this year under the landmark “most-favored-nation” drug pricing deals that Novo and its chief rival, Eli Lilly, struck with President Donald Trump in November.

Health experts say the long-awaited coverage could broaden the market for the medicines and spur more private insurers to cover them. Some experts estimate that 20 million to 30 million Medicare patients are suffering from obesity and related conditions.

Doustdar said Medicare coverage, along with the launch of Novo’s new obesity pill and other factors, should help the company gradually boost prescription volumes and offset lower prices in the U.S. following that agreement with Trump. 

But he said he doesn’t expect Medicare access to obesity treatments to open up overnight. 

“Now, it would be great if we could find a way to get access very, very fast. But I think that would be a bit naive,” Doustdar said, pointing to the slow adoption seen among eligible patients with commercial insurance. 

It’s a slightly more conservative tone on the initial impact of Medicare coverage compared with Lilly, which has cited that coverage as a key tail wind to its guidance this year. Last week, Lilly said it expects Medicare coverage to come online by July. 

Meanwhile, Doustdar said Novo is in the midst of negotiations with the government on “exactly which month, which week that is going to be opening.” 

The Cuban government said international airlines can no longer refuel there due to fuel shortages after U.S. President Donald Trump threatened tariffs on any country that supplies the communist country with oil.

The island nation’s leadership said Sunday that Cuba will run out of aviation fuel from Monday, likely disrupting operations airlines operating there, according to EFE news agency, citing two sources.

The kerosene shortage is expected to persist for the next month, with all of Cuba’s international airports affected.

Cuba’s Foreign Ministry and the Cuban Embassy in London did not immediately respond to a CNBC request for comment.

Trump, in an executive order issued at the end of January, said the Cuban government constituted “an unusual and extraordinary threat,” which required a national emergency declaration.

The U.S. president said that Cuba’s ties to countries including China, Russia and Iran, human rights violations and communist leadership destabilize the region “through migration and violence.”

As part of the announcement, Trump said U.S. tariffs may target countries that provides any oil to Cuba, whether directly or indirectly.

The Trump administration has sought to tighten the U.S. chokehold on Cuba since Jan. 3, when it conducted an audacious military operation to depose Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro, a long-time ally of Cuba’s government.

The plan reportedly includes restrictions on fuel sales, the closure of some tourist establishments, shortening school days, and a reduction of the working week in state-owned companies to four days, from Monday to Thursday.

Russia, which holds friendly ties with Cuba, said Monday that Havana’s fuel situation was “truly critical” and that U.S. attempts to further pressure the country were causing numerous problems.

“The situation in Cuba is truly critical. We know this. We are in intensive contact with our Cuban friends through diplomatic and other channels. Indeed, let’s say the U.S.’s stranglehold is causing many difficulties for the country,” Kremlin Spokesperson Dmitry Peskov told reporters on Monday, according to state news outlet RIA Novosti.

Cuba’s Foreign Minister Bruno Rodríguez Parrilla previously said the country’s leadership condemned Washington’s tariff threats in the “strongest possible terms.”

In a statement posted on Jan. 30, Parrilla also accused the U.S. government of resorting to “blackmail and coercion in an attempt to make other countries to join its universally condemned blockade policy against Cuba.”

Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum said last week that her government would aim to send humanitarian aid to Cuba from Monday, adding that the country is working to find a diplomatic solution to resume oil shipments to the Caribbean island.

Mexico had paused shipments of crude and refined products to Cuba amid pressure from the Trump administration.

The Truth Social account of President Donald Trump on Friday morning removed a racist image showing former President Barack Obama and former first lady Michelle Obama portrayed as apes after outrage over the post.

The depiction of the Obamas, posted late Thursday from Trump’s official Truth Social account, was included in a video clip pushing a conspiracy theory about voting machines during the 2020 election.

The White House initially defended Trump’s post when asked for comment on Friday morning, but the sole Black Republican senator quickly called for Trump to remove the post.

“This is from an internet meme video depicting President Trump as the King of the Jungle and Democrats as characters from the Lion King,” press secretary Karoline Leavitt said in an emailed statement earlier Friday.

“Please stop the fake outrage and report on something today that actually matters to the American public,” Leavitt said.

Leavitt’s reply included a link to a longer video posted Oct. 24 from a pro-Trump meme account on X.

Hours later, the post was deleted from Trump’s Truth Social account.

A White House official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said that a White House staffer erroneously posted the video and that it since had been taken down.

In addition to showing the Obamas as apes, the full video shows other animals bearing the faces of prominent Democrats, including former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries of New York and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez.

The press office of California Gov. Gavin Newsom, another Democrat mocked in the video, said on X: “Disgusting behavior by the President. Every single Republican must denounce this. Now.”

Trump is depicted in that video as a lion. The song “The Lion Sleeps Tonight” by The Tokens plays in the background.

The Obama Foundation did not immediately respond to CNBC’s request for comment.

Trump’s opponents may seek to make the post an issue for the midterm election in November, though it’s still nine months away.

Trump’s fellow Republicans in Congress have expressed worries that they will not be able to retain their slim majorities in both the House and Senate in November’s election.

The NAACP, in a post on X, said: “Trump posting this video — especially during Black History Month— is a stark reminder of how Trump and his followers truly view people. And we’ll remember that in November.”

Sen. Tim Scott, a South Carolina Republican who is Black and a close ally of Trump’s, blasted the image.

“Praying it was fake because it’s the most racist thing I’ve seen out of this White House,” Scott wrote in a post on X.

“The President should remove it,” Scott wrote.

Rep. Mike Lawler, a New York Republican who is considered at risk of losing his seat in the House of Representatives in November’s election, criticized Trump’s post, saying on X, “The President’s post is wrong and incredibly offensive — whether intentional or a mistake — and should be deleted immediately with an apology offered.”

Democratic elected officials quickly called on other Republicans to condemn the post.

“President Obama and Michelle Obama are brilliant, compassionate and patriotic Americans,” Jeffries wrote on X. “They represent the best of this country. Donald Trump is a vile, unhinged and malignant bottom feeder.”

“Why are GOP leaders like John Thune continuing to stand by this sick individual? Every single Republican must immediately denounce Donald Trump’s disgusting bigotry,” Jeffries wrote, referring to the Senate majority leader.

Rep. Raja Krishnamoorthi, D-Ill., in a own post on X, said, “This kind of Jim Crow-style dehumanization is pathetic and a disgrace to the office.”

Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent on Thursday refused to rule out the possibility of a criminal investigation of Kevin Warsh, President Donald Trump’s nominee for Federal Reserve chair, if Warsh ends up refusing to cut interest rates.

Sen. Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts, the top Democrat on the Senate Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs Committee, questioned Bessent about a joke Trump made over the weekend about suing Warsh if he does not reduce rates to the president’s liking, according to The Wall Street Journal.

“I think it was a joke, but just in case, this should be an easy one, Mr. Secretary: can you commit right here and now that Trump’s Fed nominee Kevin Warsh will not be sued, will not be investigated by the Department of Justice if he doesn’t cut interest rates exactly the way that Donald Trump wants?” Warren asked. 

“That is up to the president,” Bessent said, as the questioning devolved into cross talk.

U.S. presidents typically leave interest rate decisions up to the Fed, with a metaphorical firewall between the independent board and the White House.

Bessent’s testimony before the Senate committee was his second appearance on Capitol Hill in as many days. On Wednesday, he was grilled by Democrats during a contentious hearing of the House Financial Services Committee. Democrats there pressed Bessent on tariffs and inflation, regulation of cryptocurrencies, and the independence of the Federal Reserve, a hot-button issue.

Trump in recent months has targeted Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell over his refusal to lower interest rates to the president’s liking. Powell on Jan. 11 revealed he was the subject of an unprecedented investigation by the Department of Justice relating to cost overruns on the renovation of the Federal Reserve headquarters.

Trump critics have characterized the investigation, which is based in part on testimony Powell gave to the Senate banking committee last year, as a thinly veiled attempt to strong arm the independent central bank.

Committee Chair Tim Scott, R-S.C., said this week he does not believe Powell committed a crime in his testimony. And Sen. Thom Tillis, R-N.C., a member of the committee, has vowed to block the nomination of Warsh, unless the probe into Powell is dropped. Powell’s term as chairman ends in May. Trump, meanwhile, doubled down on the investigation earlier this week.

Warren and her Democratic colleagues on the committee have also called on Scott to hold up Warsh’s nomination until the probes into Powell and Federal Reserve Board Governor Lisa Cook — who is being investigated for alleged mortgage fraud — are ended.

“Donald Trump has been trying to take over the Fed for months and months now,” Warren said before Thursday’s hearing. “He’s threatened to fire Jerome Powell. He started a bogus criminal investigation against him. He started a bogus investigation trying to fire Lisa Cook, and now he wants to appoint his man who’s going to do exactly what he says at the Fed.”

“That’s a takeover,” Warren continued.

The Chinese government has condemned a ruling from Panama’s top court, warning the Central American country “will inevitably pay a heavy price” unless it changes course.

The rebuke comes shortly after Panama’s Supreme Court ruled to void Hong Kong-based CK Hutchison’s license to operate ports at either end of the Panama Canal.

The ruling was seen as a major victory for the Trump administration’s security ambitions in the Western Hemisphere, given that the White House has made blocking China’s influence over the critically important waterway one of its top priorities.

In a commentary posted on Tuesday on its WeChat account, the Hong Kong and Macao Affairs Office of the State Council said the “logically flawed” and “utterly ridiculous” ruling was opposed by the Chinese government and the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region government.

“The Panamanian authorities should recognize the situation and correct their course,” the Hong Kong and Macao Affairs Office said, according to a Google translation.

“If they persist in their own way and remain obstinate, they will inevitably pay a heavy price in terms of politics and economics!”

In a brief statement on Jan. 29, Panama’s top court said the terms under which Panama Ports Co., or PPC, a subsidiary of CK Hutchison, runs the Port of Balboa on the Pacific Coast and Cristóbal on the Atlantic side of the Panama Canal violated its constitution.

The ruling came around a year after U.S. President Donald Trump threatened to seize control of the Panama Canal, saying the waterway was “vital to our country” and claiming, “it’s being operated by China.”

CK Hutchison, for its part, said Wednesday that it had launched international arbitration proceedings against Panama after the country annulled its licenses to operate two Panama Canal ports.

In a statement, the company said PPC would seek “extensive damages” over the ruling, without specifying the damages sought.

Shares of CK Hutchison closed up more than 2% on Wednesday. The stock has climbed over 23% so far this year.