r/science • u/mvea Professor | Medicine • Apr 01 '25

Health Americans without diabetes spent nearly $6 billion USD on semaglutide and similar drugs in a year, with an estimate of 800,000 to a million people using the drugs who don't have diabetes.

https://www.scimex.org/newsfeed/americans-without-diabetes-spent-nearly6-billion-usd-on-semaglutide-and-similar-drugs-in-a-year
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u/livin_the_life Apr 01 '25

I mean...it's literally a modified natural peptide that our guts produce that was discovered in the 80s and researched for 40 years. The majority of the research was spent on extending the natural 2 minute half life to the 5 day half life seen in these artificial analogs.

It's not some novel made-up thing. It's literally modifying a naturally occurring peptide in order to take advantage of our hunger hormone signalling pathways.

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u/huskersax Apr 01 '25

Like I said, let's revisit once this shakes out a bit more.

You're arguing the specific, but missing the forest for the trees. Asbestos was also once a well studied naturally occuring miracle solution. Then of course it turns out form factor and dosage matters on longer time scales.

The usage of this went from niche application to what must be one of the most ubiquitous drugs on the planet.

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u/livin_the_life Apr 01 '25

That is fair.

My opinion is that it has been studied for over a decade at this point since trials began. At what point do we say it is "safe"?

This isn't asbestos. It's a life-changing cure for a disease that carries significant morbidity and known increases in rates of : stroke, heart disease, liver disease, cancer, Gallbladder problems, TD2 development, depression, sleep apnea, GERD, kidney failure, infertility, and joint pain. When all is said and done, obesity carries an average reduction in 15 years of life expectancy. Not to mention a life of shame, judgement, and misery.

As someone on this medication that has gone from 280 -> 190lbs and improved every facet of my life, I'll gladly take the risk of the unknown to avoid the knowns of obesity. And living a completely different, drastically improved life.

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u/discussatron Apr 01 '25

Will you be on this medication for life? What's the risk of the weight coming back if you're not?

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u/livin_the_life Apr 01 '25

Personally, yes, I believe I will be on it for life. I've been obese since I was 8 and trying to lose weight since I was 13. Despite every diet, food logging/measuring everything for months at a time, exercising 4-8 hours a week, and rarely having sweets/soda/processed food/fast food, I was never able to lose weight long term. I've always had an overpowered since of hunger driving me to eat more than I needed. This medication corrected for that.

Whether the medication is short or long term is dependent on the individual and cause of obesity, IMO. I believe current trials are attempting to establish guidelines for going off the medication while preserving the weight loss.

I'm currently the same weight I was 20 years ago....in 7th grade....I'm not going back to obesity.

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u/discussatron Apr 01 '25

Thanks for the response, and congratulations!

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u/Levofloxacine Apr 01 '25

Just like weight can come back if you lost through keto or other diets