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

nbcnews.com

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

#91

Post by 98codes »

o10449366 wrote: post #20

Drugs like Adderall don't mimic the hormones talked about in the article, right? I took Adderall XR once a day in college which completely suppressed my appetite and, combined with being a poor student that couldn't always afford lunch, I would frequently only eat one meal a day (either breakfast or dinner.) Since I graduated college many years ago, I also stopped taking Adderall but my sense of hunger has never retu…

Not at all, nor do all prescribed users of Adderall experience any change in appetite.

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

#92

Post by wbarber »

SamoyedFurFluff wrote: post #25

Do we actually know if weight loss from these medications is associated with improved health outcomes in non-diabetic people? Like does it fix joints, does it fix heart disease, blood pressure, etc?

Very likely so. I know of at least one study in which they are interested in determining if weight loss from semaglutide results in a similar decrease in cancer rates that they see in bariatric surgery patients.

The drugs cause you to eat less and the mechanism of the drug may, in and of itself have some cardio protective effects. To get a drug approved for diabetics, you have to demonstrate it doesn’t cause cardiovascular issues because the comorbidity among diabetics is so high, and other drugs have a history of helping with blood sugars but causing cardiovascular issues. On those measures, iirc, semaglutide specifically showed my that the treatment group saw a significant reduction in cardiovascular events. I’m on mobile so can’t provide links at the moment.

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

#93

Post by wbarber »

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…

Patients do indeed need the drug to keep the weight off. They have proven this. But that is not an issue at all. Individuals who have gained a significant amount of weight do not produce leptin, grehlin, and other related hormones in the same way that people at a normal weight do. Once you’ve put on a significant amount of weight you can’t just expand the size of your fat cells you make new cells entirely. Even if you remove those new cells via liposuction, the body recreates them as a homeostatic response. The result is that something like 10% of obese people that lose weight have kept it off two years later. The people who keep it off have been studied extensively as a group and generally they weigh themselves daily and many of them count calories meticulously. As soon as they stop doing that, they regain the weight. It’s a path dependent outcome. Once you’ve walked the path to obesity, your body fights you walking back towards healthy. This drug adjusts some of the same hormones that get out of whack when you’ve been overweight before. Unfortunately not all of them can be safely played with (giving people leptin and leptin like hormones tends to cause cancer for example). But these seem to be both safe and effective.

There really shouldn’t be a stigma associated with taking drugs like these for the rest of your life.

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

#94

Post by pixl97 »

Eumenes wrote: post #73

I'm sure this will have no long term side effects or risks! Is exercise + sound diet that difficult for people?

I mean what percentage of the US is overweight these days, the number is scary high and it has a massive impact in productivity and Healthcare costs.

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

#95

Post by pixl97 »

sschueller wrote: post #4

Here is Derek from MPMD talking about one of those diabetes 2 drugs being used for weight loss by people like Elon Musk [1] Sadly because celebrities are using these drugs I can forsee many people who are only a bit overweight taking this when just eating better and working out would be so much better for them. [1] https://youtu.be/hcNTHLdH5QE

The number of overweight people and diabetics far exceeds the number of celebrities out there. I think it's just demand driven by media exposure that is the issue

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

#96

Post by refurb »

asdff wrote: post #84
refurb wrote: post #67

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If the government is making the drugs how do they bargain for a price? And if the inefficiency of the government in terms of defense spending is any indication, I’m sure we’d be getting way less for our money than we currently do.

Most analysis of single payer versus the status quo suggest we'd all be saving money hand over fist. Sure the government is not the most efficient, but private companies are often even more inefficient unless you are a shareholder and your metrics for efficiency are profit versus the wellbeing of your customers.

"Most analyses"?

United Healthcare, the largest US insurer, has more members than the entire population of Canada. Why don't they get better drug prices than Canada?

And in terms of efficiency, please list all the new, innovative drugs the government has brought to market.

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

#97

Post by thehappypm »

CadmiumYellow wrote: post #82
cptcobalt wrote: post #69

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is a regressive opinion. If we have tools available that can solve problems—as humans are not perfect—then why not use them? Do you not enjoy the benefits of other medicine that solves problems you have, like susceptibility to Covid? We should always be on the conquest to improve our livelihoods. If that means introducing a drug to combat obesity so that scores of people can extend their lifespans by being healt…

I don't think this is regressive. He's suggesting that people will gain the weight back when they go off of the drug and their appetite returns, which is a legitimate concern given that we don't know if it's safe for people to take this drug long term because it hasn't been around all that long.

I disagree. Have you ever seen how obese people eat? If an obese person spends 5 years on this medicine, then goes off it, they’ve spent 5 years eating less. That’s at least some level of knowledge with real results.

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

#99

Post by wbarber »

MerelyMortal wrote: post #85
e1g wrote: post #63

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I’m seeing one of the doctors quoted in the article and they say nobody knows what’s going on with pricing or what will happen next year when the drug gets approved. The coupon is from the manufacturer and brought the total cost to $25 out of pocket. However, in Oct the rules changed and now there is lots of confusion about eligibility and costs. Most pharmacies refuse to deal with this at all, and last week I paid $…

At let's say a 10 pound per month weight loss, that means losing 100 pounds would only cost $5,000. I know it doesn't quite work that way, but $500/month sounds a lot, but $5,000/100lb sounds like a bargain.

Unfortunately 90%+ of people need to continue taking the drug to keep the weight off.

It’s an expensive drug but there is increasing competition in the drug category which will be good for consumers in the long run.

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

#100

Post by andrewstuart »

runnerup wrote: post #23
barbariangrunge wrote: post #10

1100-1500/month is pretty brutal. It’s a bit of a middle finger pointed at lower income people

You can get these wholesale from China from "reputable" gray-market wholesalers who get the chemicals made at contract manufacturing facilities. Independent purity tests via HPLC are available for If an annual amount is purchased on the gray market, this brings the monthly cost down to: - Tirzepatide: $60/month - Semaglutide: $10/month - Liraglutide: $87/month Note that in the USA, it is legal to import certain amoun…

>> You can get these wholesale from China from "reputable" gray-market wholesalers

Hard pass.

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