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

Pfizer ended up passing on my GLP-1 work back in the early '90s (2024)

statnews.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

11–20 of 54 posts

Re: Pfizer ended up passing on my GLP-1 work back in the early '90s (2024)

#11

Post by nextos »

philipkglass wrote: post #2

This is subscriber-walled, but the full article is available here: https://web.archive.org/web/20240909093450/https://www.statn... The key reason Pfizer passed was that executives didn't think patients would accept a new therapy that required injection to administer: Despite our emerging results, the Pfizer executives in charge of research and external alliances told us the company did not want to develop a new diabe…

FWIW, Novo Nordisk also tried to kill their GLP-1 effort several times according to the project lead, Lotte Bjerre Knudsen: https://archive.is/oLnBl

In large organizations, I guess a big chunk of success comes from being able to navigate all these political ups and downs.

Re: Pfizer ended up passing on my GLP-1 work back in the early '90s (2024)

#12

Post by xvector »

Incredibly bothersome that these executives can rise so high and get paid so much despite having such terrible decisionmaking skills.

An injection to cure obesity is a small price to ask, as any person that has been obese will tell you. They could have determined this from a simple survey.

What was the human cost of their decision? Maybe an entire delayed decade of progress? How many people died, that could have been saved?

I would love to meet some of these executives and understand what they were thinking, and if they understand/regret the impact of their foolishness.

Re: Pfizer ended up passing on my GLP-1 work back in the early '90s (2024)

#13

Post by RobotToaster »

nextos wrote: post #11
philipkglass wrote: post #2

This is subscriber-walled, but the full article is available here: https://web.archive.org/web/20240909093450/https://www.statn... The key reason Pfizer passed was that executives didn't think patients would accept a new therapy that required injection to administer: Despite our emerging results, the Pfizer executives in charge of research and external alliances told us the company did not want to develop a new diabe…

FWIW, Novo Nordisk also tried to kill their GLP-1 effort several times according to the project lead, Lotte Bjerre Knudsen: https://archive.is/oLnBl In large organizations, I guess a big chunk of success comes from being able to navigate all these political ups and downs.

I wonder how many other great medical innovations have disappeared because of such bureaucracy.

Re: Pfizer ended up passing on my GLP-1 work back in the early '90s (2024)

#14

Post by amelius »

Scaevolus wrote: post #3
philipkglass wrote: post #2

This is subscriber-walled, but the full article is available here: https://web.archive.org/web/20240909093450/https://www.statn... The key reason Pfizer passed was that executives didn't think patients would accept a new therapy that required injection to administer: Despite our emerging results, the Pfizer executives in charge of research and external alliances told us the company did not want to develop a new diabe…

Self-injecting feels like a scary, painful, dangerous procedure and becomes completely boring by the third repetition.

Isn't there some long term harm to the skin if you do this often?

Re: Pfizer ended up passing on my GLP-1 work back in the early '90s (2024)

#16

Post by thaumasiotes »

amelius wrote: post #14
Scaevolus wrote: post #3

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Self-injecting feels like a scary, painful, dangerous procedure and becomes completely boring by the third repetition.

Isn't there some long term harm to the skin if you do this often?

To the skin? Probably not.

Heroin addicts and presumably anyone else who frequently injects into a vein can cause damage to the veins.

Re: Pfizer ended up passing on my GLP-1 work back in the early '90s (2024)

#17

Post by nkrisc »

amelius wrote: post #14
Scaevolus wrote: post #3

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Self-injecting feels like a scary, painful, dangerous procedure and becomes completely boring by the third repetition.

Isn't there some long term harm to the skin if you do this often?

Seems completely negligible to the normal amount of tiny cuts and scrapes you accumulate on any given day.

Re: Pfizer ended up passing on my GLP-1 work back in the early '90s (2024)

#18

Post by DANmode »

RobotToaster wrote: post #13
nextos wrote: post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

FWIW, Novo Nordisk also tried to kill their GLP-1 effort several times according to the project lead, Lotte Bjerre Knudsen: https://archive.is/oLnBl In large organizations, I guess a big chunk of success comes from being able to navigate all these political ups and downs.

I wonder how many other great medical innovations have disappeared because of such bureaucracy.

How long do you have?

https://www.sciencenews.org/article/vaccine-beer-polyomaviru...

Re: Pfizer ended up passing on my GLP-1 work back in the early '90s (2024)

#19

Post by DANmode »

stavros wrote: post #7
Scaevolus wrote: post #3

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Self-injecting feels like a scary, painful, dangerous procedure and becomes completely boring by the third repetition.

It really helps that the needles are hair-thin and short.

Are you using this?
Post reply on HN