According to the important US magazine Sciencethe scientific discovery of the year concerns anti-obesity drugs called “Glp-1 receptor agonists”. They are molecules that stimulate insulin production and reduce appetite. They are not exactly new, given that for about twenty years they have already been used for the treatment of type 2 diabetes, the most common form that arises due to an unhealthy lifestyle. But only recently have they been approved in the USA and Europe – not yet in Italy but it’s a matter of time – also to combat obesity in non-diabetic people. Volunteers who participated in clinical trials on semaglutide, the best-known of the “Glp-1” drugs, lost an average of 15% of their weight after two years of treatment. Another similar drug, liraglutide, has demonstrated similar results and for other molecules clinical trials are providing promising preliminary results.
THE SUCCESS OF DRUGS has already taken the market by storm. Use as a weight-loss drug has increased demand for semaglutide to the point that European diabetes patients struggle to find it. The Danish pharmaceutical company Novo Nordisk, which produces semaglutide and liraglutide, has diverted distribution to the other side of the Atlantic where these treatments are a gold mine. The trend of Wegovy (this is the commercial name of the most widespread slimming drug) in the USA is a cultural phenomenon. Among its fans there is even Elon Musk, who does not suffer from diabetes or obesity but has publicly declared that he uses it regularly as if it were any cosmetic. The result is that the company’s profits in 2023 exceeded one billion euros on a monthly basis. In mid-November, however, Novo Nordisk had to communicate to the European health authorities that for semaglutide “intermittent shortages are expected throughout 2024” and for liraglutide “at least until the second quarter of 2024” and invited diabetic patients to seek therapeutic alternatives.
AS HE ADMITS the director of Science Holden Thorp, the discovery of the year raises «more questions than answers». Treating obesity with a drug rather than with a better lifestyle entails a high cost, not only economically. Regarding anti-obesity stereotypes, the arrival of these products risks worsening the stigma for those who will not, or cannot, use them. Then there are the side effects. The most common are of a gastro-intestinal nature but the European Medicines Agency (EMA) and the US Food and Drug Administration are also examining the possible link between the use of Glp-1 and the onset of suicidal impulses.
THE EVALUATION on safety from EMA is expected for April 2024. Furthermore, it is emerging with ever greater clarity that the slimming effect is temporary and the lost weight is regained as soon as the intake is stopped, as proves a study by Cornell University (USA) published in the latest issue of Journal of the America Medical Association. Another studio in the same magazine he documents how pharmaceutical companies have exploited patents and commercial exclusivity to the maximum to ensure monopolies and profits: each drug in this category is protected on average by twenty patents and enjoys commercial exclusivity lasting an average of 18.3 years. The result is that after almost twenty years of use, a month of treatment can cost over a thousand dollars, there is no trace of generic drugs and an outburst from Elon Musk is enough to deprive millions of diabetics of treatment.
2023-12-15 21:57:34
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