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

GLP-1 drugs: An economic disruptor? (2024)

wildfirelabs.substack.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

401–410 of 553 posts

Re: GLP-1 drugs: An economic disruptor? (2024)

#401

Post by Animats »

dist-epoch wrote: post #117
Animats wrote: post #105

Wow. And this is the first generation of this class of drugs. Better drugs with fewer side effects are in the pipeline.

Maybe, or maybe not. Drugs are not like a smartphone. There is no reason to believe you can improve on them (except on price)

Sure there is. All the way back to aspirin. Before aspirin, there was salicylic acid, which has some painkiller effect but tastes awful and causes stomach upset. Researchers at Bayer found that tacking on an acetyl group produced acetylsalicylic acid, with the same painkiller effect but fewer side effects. That's aspirin.

Drug companies are trying to improve on Ozelympic.[1] The big win will be when somebody comes up with a pill form rather than an injectable.

[1] https://qz.com/novo-nordisk-eli-lilly-ozempic-wegovy-weight-...

Re: GLP-1 drugs: An economic disruptor? (2024)

#402

Post by dghlsakjg »

pkaye wrote: post #363
dghlsakjg wrote: post #147

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yup. The current retail cost in Canada is ~$160 USD per syringe for Ozempic.

How much is Wegovy?

I don't have firsthand experience with Wegovy, but a little googling says $400-600 CAD/month.

That's $277-$425 in USD

Re: GLP-1 drugs: An economic disruptor? (2024)

#403

Post by j-bos »

cj wrote: post #19

I started Tirzepatide 3-4 weeks ago. (Mostly as an experiment to understand the hype around GLP's... I don't have diabetes and only very slightly overweight at 20% body fat). Even at the lowest 2.5mg starter dose which you're only allowed to stay on for 1 month: - Extreme appetite suppression to the point where I've started calorie counting specifically to make sure that I'm eating enough. It's incredibly easy to for…

This sounds like my whole life, I've always been trim and have never understood the joy people get from food. Facinating to see there's a drug that recreates that physiology.

Re: GLP-1 drugs: An economic disruptor? (2024)

#404

Post by ethbr1 »

toomuchtodo wrote: post #365
bobbylarrybobby wrote: post #360

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Where did these hormone imbalances come from, when and why did they arise, why aren't they uniformly distributed across the globe? Answering these questions may lead to a root cause of obesity and obviate the need for medication altogether.

Do you believe overeating to not be the equivalent of depression, schizophrenia, addiction, or bipolar disorder requiring medical intervention? If so, why? This is brain chemistry.

"Overeating" is reductive.

It's not like people are eating too many plates of vegetables.

Hypercaloric overprocessed food contributes heavily to obesity outcomes.

Sure, people eating smaller amounts (of hypercaloric overprocessed food) is a win. But we should aim higher.

Re: GLP-1 drugs: An economic disruptor? (2024)

#406

Post by Taikonerd »

asveikau wrote: post #207
cj wrote: post #19

I started Tirzepatide 3-4 weeks ago. (Mostly as an experiment to understand the hype around GLP's... I don't have diabetes and only very slightly overweight at 20% body fat). Even at the lowest 2.5mg starter dose which you're only allowed to stay on for 1 month: - Extreme appetite suppression to the point where I've started calorie counting specifically to make sure that I'm eating enough. It's incredibly easy to for…

> My morning starbucks routine has changed from 2 food items to just 1, which alone saves me $200/mo (sorry starbucks). Starbucks food is especially calorie dense. I realized this when I lost a bunch of weight in 2018 and I noticed the calorie counts on the printed cards that some stores have. Even for junk food, Starbucks junk food is more calorific than average for the same items. I started to consider that for a t…

"Starbucks's greatest trick was convincing grown-ups it was OK to have a milkshake for breakfast."

(I heard this somewhere on the internet, about the Frappucino.)

Re: GLP-1 drugs: An economic disruptor? (2024)

#407

Post by bobsmooth »

decryption wrote: post #214
cj wrote: post #19

I started Tirzepatide 3-4 weeks ago. (Mostly as an experiment to understand the hype around GLP's... I don't have diabetes and only very slightly overweight at 20% body fat). Even at the lowest 2.5mg starter dose which you're only allowed to stay on for 1 month: - Extreme appetite suppression to the point where I've started calorie counting specifically to make sure that I'm eating enough. It's incredibly easy to for…

I've been on tirzepatide for 8 weeks (2.5mg then 5mg) and have a very similar conclusion as you. I started off at 160kg 8 weeks ago and now I'm down to 145kg. No other change in my lifestyle except eating radically less. Two 500-calorie-ish meals a day and some fruit as a snack, that's about it. For decades I've struggled with diets but tirzepatide is the only thing that's made me stick with it. Will power alone wasn…

You lost 35kg in 2 months? That's insane. Any issues with loose skin so far?

Re: GLP-1 drugs: An economic disruptor? (2024)

#408

Post by dhfbshfbu4u3 »

BandButcher wrote: post #393
dhfbshfbu4u3 wrote: post #261

This is just the start. Those in the know are already stacking: GLP-1 Agonists, Senolytics, NMDA Modulators, Hormones and Peptides, NAD+ and mTOR Modulation, Nootropics and Adaptogens… Forget weight loss. These people are going for immortality.

no Just-In-Time crispr gene editing as the cherry on top??

Nope. Just stuff they can use right now. No magic required!

Re: GLP-1 drugs: An economic disruptor? (2024)

#410

Post by toomuchtodo »

Snoozle wrote: post #396
toomuchtodo wrote: post #368

Earlier quoted context omitted.

https://data.worldobesity.org/rankings/ https://www.who.int/activities/controlling-the-global-obesit... The US isn’t even the top 9. Obesity is a global epidemic of Western disease. The food isn’t the cause, it’s the symptom of the brain chemistry. If it isn’t available, yes, the disease may not present. But if available, due to hormones causing the drive , it presents. Like cigarettes (nicotine), like cocaine, like…

Nobody was suggesting solutions, but in regards to GLP-1 agonists as solving the 'problem' perfectly, no, it's just solving the symptoms. The problem is scientific advancement creating hyper palatable food and drink with no nutritional value and low satiety, combined with the food drive increases that comes with eating and drinking that food, combined with the removal of general fitness and mobility as a core require…

I think GLP-1s are a great hack until gene therapy can be used to fix the underlying genetic issue that leads to the brain chemistry expression requiring the temporary GLP-1 patch.

It can be manufactured inexpensively, scales up, and will be as common as insulin or Metformin.

Post reply on HN