14 Comments
User's avatar
William Poundstone's avatar

And as the cost of the drugs fall...

I do hope future versions will have fewer side effects

Jeff's avatar

Their side effect profiles are pretty mild IMHO. In most cases side effects can be prevented or drastically reduced by titrating dosage more gradually, and being careful not to overeat (which is understandably unfamiliar to many people starting out on peptides).

William Poundstone's avatar

I've been on the 4 mg oral dose for 2 months and I'm still unable to finish small snacks

Jeff's avatar

Ahh shoot, I forgot about the oral versions. I think the injections have less side effects. I only inject half a mg per week of sema, which seems to be only 1/5 of the full dose, and I still get appetite suppression without any side effects.

Oliver's avatar

This isn't like asking about the effectiveness of antidepressants, creatine or new cancer drugs, this is the equivalent of comparing antibiotics to no treatment. The effects are huge and involve tens of millions of people.

ferona's avatar

Medicare Bridge Program starting July 1st is going to massively impact access. $50 a month for Wegovy, Zepbound, Foundayo is so so so cheap. And the qualifying criteria is pretty reasonable

Mallard's avatar

You may want to clarify which sources are being used in figure 1. E.g. the graphic uses 3 colors, but the key doesn't include yellow. I'm guessing that yellow and blue are a single source, but even after following the link to the discussion of the Economist, I'm still not sure.

You may also want to create an updated version of the chart here: https://x.com/cremieuxrecueil/status/1991567890613694888, with newer data for Retatrutide.

Phase 2 results for VK2735 have now been published, as well: https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/oby.70106.

Topline results were also announced for PF-08653944: https://www.pfizer.com/news/press-release/press-release-detail/pfizers-ultra-long-acting-injectable-glp-1-ra-shows-robust, as well as newer ones for Survodutide: https://www.boehringer-ingelheim.com/human-health/metabolic-diseases/glp-1-dual-agonist-survodutide-weightloss-obesity-overweight-improvement.

You could throw in Orforglipron, as well.

Sol Hando's avatar

This is the best news of the year.

William Poundstone's avatar

I've lost 18 pounds on oral wegovy

jf's avatar

It's nice to read good news for once. Thank you!

Bo Nix's avatar

I bet by the end of trumps term, America will be measurably healthier. RFK and MAHA will try to take the credit, when in reality it will be due to GLP1-RAs

jbnn's avatar

Ah, now they're going to fnd a way to blame Trump for this...He's starving them!

Alec Pritzos's avatar

The shift from annual NHANES survey lag to Epic's quarterly EHR panel of over one hundred million Americans is the real structural change underneath this update. NHANES historically published with a multi-year delay, which made GLP-1 impact effectively unmeasurable in policy timeframes; quarterly EHR data converts what was a research-grade signal into something pricing and regulatory bodies can act on in-cycle. The 25 percent diabetic and 13 percent obese GLP-1RA usage numbers also explain why GLP-1 supply, not demand, is the binding constraint on the continuing decline. The remaining noise question is whether Epic's panel skews younger and more insured than the population baseline, since that would compress the apparent decline relative to the broader US.

Cremieux's avatar

All the data in the chart is from Epic.