Perhaps an opportunity for lower cost products… those online Canadian pharmacies?
In just four months, the patent for semaglutide, a key weight loss medication which goes under the brand names Ozempic and Wegovy, will expire in countries like India, China, Brazil – and also in Canada. This could mark a historic turning point for global public health. With more than a billion people living with obesity worldwide, the potential for generic, affordable semaglutide to transform the management of obesity, diabetes, and related metabolic disease is so mind-bogglingly large, we think the time is ripe for governments – including in Canada – to start to plan for how to maximize their potential.
While American patients who pay for semaglutide themselves spend US$499 a month, Indian manufacturers are gearing up to produce biosimilar versions at a manufacturing cost of less than US$6 a month. Indian manufacturers work on a high-volume, low-cost model. This makes it likely that the cost of generic semaglutide will be a fraction of what it is today. This would make lifesaving treatment accessible on a massive scale.
Just how big a deal would widening availability be? Some sense of the scale of the impact can be found in work by one of us. In a preprint estimate in collaboration with David Brook, Dr. Singer modelled the effects of global access to these GLP-1 medicines. Their most recent estimate finds that 2.1 million to 3.1 million lives per year could be saved in patients with diabetes and/or obesity.
Which tries to prove you age faster when it gets hot out from heatwaves. It makes me wonder if they’ve heard of sauna, or heat shock proteins. Also my understanding is that we’ve been on the planet for 250000 years in about this same form and have been through it and adapted to it, whether in the arctic or around the equator. Not to cause trouble, but my understanding based on what phd’s and papers I’ve read is that much of the small increase in heat worldwide is from higher nightime temps from extra moisture in the air from having more foliage, so higher dew point. It works even more convincingly at the poles in the winter, moderating what used to be more extremely low temps.
If what they’re doing is science, then I’ve lost faith.
I’m really not interested in engaging any kind of discussion on climate change denialism, much less in a thread that is supposed to be about GLP-1 experiences.
I’m surprised that no one seems to be working on GLP-1RAs for conditions in non-diabetic and non-overweight people. SGLT2i were approved in HF and CKD. How come GLP-1RAs aren’t approved (or even explored?) in HF or CKD alone (without copathologies)? Does it mean that GLP-1RAs are not beneficial in people without T2D or obesity?
Excellent questions, which is why I’m staying away from GLP-1 meds for now, as there’s not enough data in low-normal weight non-diabetics. Interesting drugs, need more studies - I’m especially interested in the neuroprotective potential.
I’m also optimistic but I wonder: if they’re so good how come ZERO companies are exploring them in non diabetic / non overweight? (except one AD trial) CKD and HF are diseases of aging and massive markets.
They already got approval in those markets. They could make more money by adding indications. And they’re doing it. Read the pipeline: they WANT to expand to CKD and HF but… only as copathologies in people with T2D and/or obesity! How come they decided to EXCLUDE non-diabetics / non-obese from their CKD and HF trials? Surely they must think that these drugs won’t be beneficial in those populations. Otherwise why? The trials are already paid. It costs the same to do a trial on n=1000 people with (CKD + obesity) vs (CKD with or without obesity).
The problem could be the added complexity of giving a drug that causes profound weight loss to a normal weight person.
Compared to those of us who are motivated to optimize health with exercise and nutrition, the typical non-obese trial participant could run into a lot of trouble on an incretin mimetic.
And that’s exactly why I think they might not have benefits in non T2D / obesity.
They could give them a lower dose. Less than 5% weight loss. They could limit the trials with people who are not underweight. Or BMI > 20 kg/m² (instead of 24.9).
Additionally, not all GLP-1RAs cause a lot of weight loss. Most first generations GLP1-RAs don’t cause much weight loss (exenatide, albiglutide, etc.).
Sure, but they also require once daily injections. Even with positive results, how marketable would they be? If anything, maybe Eli Lilly will eventually do some trials with low dose orforglipron in non-obese non-diabetics (if they can find enough subjects in the USA )
Ok, good points. Perhaps smaller doses and weaker potency at the GLP-1 receptor might also mean less potent pleiotropic effects, even if such effects are proven to be independent of fat loss.
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