A every day tablet from Wegovy maker reveals promise and different information I’m studying on weight reduction medication
Ozempic, Wegovy, Mounjaro, Zepbound: Blockbuster weight reduction medication have been arguably the largest well being story of the final a number of years — and there aren’t any indicators their recognition will decelerate anytime quickly, particularly with the prospect of a every day tablet kind on the horizon. Millions of Americans have taken the medication, identified collectively as GLP-1 agonist medicines. Their potential advantages, properly past treating weight problems and diabetes, proceed to mount as analysis pours in. However so do considerations over every part from price to uncommon however life-threatening dangers.
As a well being journalist, I’m doing my greatest to maintain up with all issues weight reduction medication, however with headlines rolling in every single day, it’s not simple! In case you’re attempting to remain on high of the most recent, take into account this your fast reference information.
1. We’ve realized extra about how these medication work
The factor that basically fascinates me about these medicines is what they’re instructing us about how intertwined our mind, metabolism and cardiac well being are. Talking of — in August, a clinical trial confirmed that GLP-1 medication don’t simply make fullness last more, they really improve metabolism. That’s large as a result of it means the medication aren’t simply facilitating weight reduction, they’re altering how individuals’s our bodies course of meals. [Newsweek]
2. A every day tablet kind seems to be promising in trials
Contributors in a scientific trial of an oral type of a GLP-1 drug misplaced as much as 13% of their physique weight over simply three months, in response to outcomes introduced by drugmaker Novo Nordisk in early September. That is about twice as a lot weight reduction as sufferers have seen in the identical period of time whereas taking injection types of comparable medication. Dr. Susan Spratt, an endocrinologist and the senior medical director for the Inhabitants Well being Administration Workplace at Duke Well being, went as far as to match it to a “miracle tablet,” NBC Information reported. That is the thrilling information … the dangerous information is that this was only a section 1 scientific trial — which assessments a drug’s security – and the tablet will not transfer into the ultimate spherical of testing till subsequent 12 months on the earliest. [NBC News]
3. The medication seem to have advantages past weight reduction
Not solely does tirzepatide (the energetic ingredient in Mounjaro and Zepbound) assist management blood sugar and improve the pancreas’s manufacturing of insulin for individuals with diabetes, but it surely additionally reduces the chance of growing the persistent situation within the first place — by a whopping 94%, in response to new research on Eli Lilly’s medication. That’s nice information, however not massively shocking contemplating that the medicines have been authorised by the Meals and Drug Administration particularly for combating diabetes and weight problems. What’s shocking is what number of different advantages the medication appear to have. Folks taking Wegovy are 33% less likely to die of COVID-19, one examine discovered. Actually, these taking GLP-1 weight reduction medicines have been much less possible than others to die from all method of causes, together with heart problems. Semaglutide (the energetic ingredient in Ozempic and Wegovy) “has far-reaching advantages past what we initially imagined,” Dr. Harlan Krumholz, a heart specialist at Yale Faculty of Drugs, stated on the European Society of Cardiology Congress 2024. Might these medication preserve individuals more healthy and youthful for longer? Researchers appear to suppose so. “It wouldn’t shock me that bettering individuals’s well being this manner really slows down the growing old course of,” Krumholz stated. [BBC]
4. However they’re not with out potential dangers
Amid all of the promising analysis, one alarming story additionally caught my eye: A lady is alleging that taking Wegovy and Ozempic induced a part of her colon to “die.” Juanita Gantt needed to have her colon eliminated, now has an ileostomy bag and is suing the drugmaker, Novo Nordisk. We are able to’t say for certain whether or not the drug induced her issues, however Ozempic could cause life-threatening intestinal blockages. The FDA final 12 months added a warning in regards to the uncommon however severe threat to Ozempic’s label.
One other current examine raised considerations a couple of hyperlink between weight reduction medication resembling Ozempic and an elevated threat of suicide. Nevertheless, consultants are skeptical and U.K. regulators ruled that there wasn’t a conclusive connection after a yearlong security information evaluation. [CBS News and Reuters]
5. Price remains to be a serious situation. Each sufferers and drugmakers try to resolve it.
The record value for a month’s provide of Ozempic is almost $1,000 (though some insurance coverage might cowl the remedy at no or little price). Excessive costs for semaglutide and different weight reduction medication have led some sufferers to interrupt open their injection pens to stretch their provides. In an try to supply a lower-cost possibility (and more likely to dissuade sufferers from in search of different suppliers’ cheaper compounded medication), Eli Lilly is providing a model of its drug Zepbound that might save sufferers as much as 50%. The catch? They’ll have to purchase their very own syringes and draw the drug from a vial to inject themselves as a substitute of utilizing the pricey however handy injector pen that full-price Zepbound is available in. [The Atlantic and Futurism]
6. Shortages are ongoing whereas drugmakers attempt to fight compounded GLP-1s
Novo Nordisk, maker of Ozempic and Wegovy, stated the medication will possible proceed to be in brief provide for the rest of the 12 months. In the meantime, Eli Lilly has stated that shortages of its medication Zepbound and Mounjaro will quickly be over. Eli Lilly’s new plan for distributing Zepbound in vials might assist to alleviate provide pressure too. The corporate can be going to courtroom to attempt to stop compounding pharmacies from making cheaper copies of its medication, which is just authorized amid shortages. Will all of this assist individuals get their arms on the medication or make it even more durable? We’ll see. [Washington Post]
