Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

The FDA will likely approve the diabetes drug tirzepatide for weight loss

nbcnews.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

51–60 of 106 posts

Re: The FDA will likely approve the diabetes drug tirzepatide for weight loss

#51

Post by jcampbell1 »

SamoyedFurFluff wrote: post #48
jcampbell1 wrote: post #42

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Dulaglutide is a drug in the same class that has been around longer there is a modest improvement for cardiovascular events. 5.4 years on the drug: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/31189511/

Your link says “ in type 2 diabetes” in the title. I’m interested in non-diabetics, given this is going to be approved purely to unfat people without diabetes.

I had the same curiosity as you but realized there can’t possibly be any long term studies because this class is new, and very new for weight loss. I just searched for the longest term study for the class.

Re: The FDA will likely approve the diabetes drug tirzepatide for weight loss

#52

Post by WirelessGigabit »

pknomad wrote: post #49

Disclaimer - I'm just a mere biochem grad who've taken some grad level courses in physiology so my question is coming from curiosity and healthy dose of ignorance. I took a cursory glance at the wiki page ( https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tirzepatide ) and it seems like it's working wonders on weight loss by targeting satiety. Weight loss still occurs when calorie out exceeds calorie input so it's not fundamentally cha…

I have issues with my appetite. I eat a lot. So my fix was to exercise a lot. Which worked out fine. But now my hip has a pretty severe issue causing me to go from ~1,500+ calories per day burn to about half.

Add to that the fact that I sleep worse due to pain...

So my appetite is even worse, as I eat to compensate the lack of energy because of my bad sleep.

I want these meds, if only until I've had my surgery and have completely recovered.

And after that? We'll see..

Food abuse is instilled during childhood, it's incredibly hard to change. For alcohol abuse we accept that abstaining is the right thing to do. Can't do that with food, so we need some help.

If these meds work with minimal side effects, and people are genuinely having a benefit, why not?

Re: The FDA will likely approve the diabetes drug tirzepatide for weight loss

#53

Post by 9991 »

Steven420 wrote: post #8
toomuchtodo wrote: post #6

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Eating better and working out is hard. If the medication can get you a similar outcome with minimal side effects, that seems like a prudent protocol to prescribe. If it’s determined to be safe (statistically), why not? Might only be necessary until we can inexpensively synthesize miR-1: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=34196488

Unfortunately there aren't any shortcuts to good health

How do you know that?

Re: The FDA will likely approve the diabetes drug tirzepatide for weight loss

#54

Post by exabrial »

r930 wrote: post #19

There is some evidence that soleus push ups can induce significant insulin responses, without the need for drugs. Soleus is the muscle below the calf and normally used when walking running and jumping > All of the 600 muscles combined normally contribute only about 15% of the whole-body oxidative metabolism in the three hours after ingesting carbohydrate. Despite the fact that the soleus is only 1% the body weight, i…

All right, this is a single Data point, and of course is anecdotal evidence… if you’re into taking health advice off the Internet rather than from your doctor… well you probably will end up disappointed.

OK disclaimers aside now: when I switched to clipless petals on my mountain bike, I dropped 12 lbs over the course of the summer. SPD clipless work the hell out of your calves when they are placed under the ball of your foot, especially in mountain biking applications because you spend so much time out of the saddle.

There is so many lurking variables here and nothing was normalized. I just thought that was an interesting connection.

Re: The FDA will likely approve the diabetes drug tirzepatide for weight loss

#55

Post by pknomad »

WirelessGigabit wrote: post #52
pknomad wrote: post #49

Disclaimer - I'm just a mere biochem grad who've taken some grad level courses in physiology so my question is coming from curiosity and healthy dose of ignorance. I took a cursory glance at the wiki page ( https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tirzepatide ) and it seems like it's working wonders on weight loss by targeting satiety. Weight loss still occurs when calorie out exceeds calorie input so it's not fundamentally cha…

I have issues with my appetite. I eat a lot. So my fix was to exercise a lot. Which worked out fine. But now my hip has a pretty severe issue causing me to go from ~1,500+ calories per day burn to about half. Add to that the fact that I sleep worse due to pain... So my appetite is even worse, as I eat to compensate the lack of energy because of my bad sleep. I want these meds, if only until I've had my surgery and ha…

Oh gotcha. I'm really sorry to hear that and hopefully your recovery goes well.

>If these meds work with minimal side effects, and people are genuinely having a benefit, why not?

I suppose that is true! It's been my experience that if something is too good to be true, then it often is. I hope I'm wrong here though.

Re: The FDA will likely approve the diabetes drug tirzepatide for weight loss

#56

Post by simonebrunozzi »

ck2 wrote: post #14

All these new "weight loss" drugs are semaglutide peptide https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Semaglutide No way messing with insulin production doesn't have long-term delayed consequences.

> No way messing with insulin production doesn't have long-term delayed consequences.

Not an expert, but this sounds most likely true.

Re: The FDA will likely approve the diabetes drug tirzepatide for weight loss

#58

Post by refurb »

asdff wrote: post #33
JamesBarney wrote: post #21

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Unfortunately it's really expensive to research and produce drugs and somebody's gotta pay for it. The rest of world isn't willing to so it looks like rich people's insurance is the one that will foot the bill which means lower income people have to wait. It sucks and it's a inefficient way to fund research but it's better than the alternative where no one funds this research and we (both rich and poor) never get the…

Another alternative is the government funding this research and/or buying the drug directly. This is what was done for the government ordering 30 billion dollars worth of covid vaccines from moderna, pfizer, and j&j.

What the difference between consumers paying for drugs directly or paying taxes that pay for the drugs?

Re: The FDA will likely approve the diabetes drug tirzepatide for weight loss

#59

Post by asdff »

refurb wrote: post #58
asdff wrote: post #33

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Another alternative is the government funding this research and/or buying the drug directly. This is what was done for the government ordering 30 billion dollars worth of covid vaccines from moderna, pfizer, and j&j.

What the difference between consumers paying for drugs directly or paying taxes that pay for the drugs?

Many. For one the government can now collectively bargain for better prices. They can also subsidize the drug such that its available for everyone who needs it, not just those who have great insurance or who can afford to pay entirely out of pocket. Keeping your working population healthy has massive second order effects on the economy, it would be an investment paying for medical care.

Where does this money come from? The people in this country who make way too much money to notice any decrease in quality of life from this potential tax hit. This country is full of such whales who could front a lot of money for collective good if we thought about things in a more redistributive manner instead of the "screw you I got mine" manner that somehow got perverted into the American way.

Re: The FDA will likely approve the diabetes drug tirzepatide for weight loss

#60

Post by asdff »

anonuser123456 wrote: post #45
asdff wrote: post #28

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It will be too little too late for many by then

So we should stop designing new drugs because only future generations will benefit?

We should instead publicly subsidize the drugs that people need to be healthy just like we did for the covid vaccines that we offered to everyone at no cost.
Post reply on HN