Good news for people who are afraid of needles. “Eli Lilly has announced the results of a clinical trial of a GLP-1 agonist weight loss pill. The drug, called orforglipron, functions similarly to semaglutide (Ozempic) but does not need to be injected or refrigerated. And, thanks to its molecular structure, orforglipron should also be much cheaper and easier to produce.”
The New York Times reports:
A daily pill may be as effective in lowering blood sugar and aiding weight loss in people with Type 2 diabetes as the popular injectable drugs Mounjaro and Ozempic, according to results of a clinical trial announced by Eli Lilly on Thursday morning.
The drug, orforglipron, is a GLP-1, a class of drugs that have become blockbusters because of their weight-loss effects. But the GLP-1s on the market now are expensive, must be kept refrigerated and must be injected. A pill that produces similar results has the potential to become far more widely used, though it is also expected to be expensive…
The clinical trial involved 559 people with Type 2 diabetes who took the new pill or a placebo for 40 weeks. In patients who took orforglipron, A1C, a measure of blood sugar levels over time, fell by 1.3 to 1.6 percent. That is about the same amount as A1C fell in that time period experienced by patients taking Ozempic and Mounjaro in unrelated trials. For 65 percent of people taking the new pill, blood sugar levels dropped into the normal range.
Patients on the new pill also lost weight — an average of 16 pounds for those taking the highest dose. Their weight loss was similar to that achieved in 40 weeks with Ozempic but slightly less than with Mounjaro in unrelated trials.
Side effects were the same as those with the injectable obesity drugs — diarrhea, indigestion, constipation, nausea and vomiting.
Weight-loss drugs such as Wegovy and Ozempic help stave off some cancers, reports NPR:
Scientists see this class of drugs, called GLP-1 agonists, as a breakthrough because of how they act on the brain to regulate the body’s hormones, slow digestion, and tamp down hunger. And in several recent studies, they show early promise in preventing many common cancers — including breast, colon, liver, and ovarian — known to be driven by obesity and excess weight…One research letter published in JAMA Oncology last year, for example, suggests GLP-1 drugs might reduce the risk of colon cancer, even among people who are not overweight. A more recent analysis in JAMA Network Open suggests GLP-1s provide far more protection against cancer for diabetic patients than insulin treatments.
In other news, a drug could extend women’s fertility by 5 years, and in doing so, may improve their memory, energy levels and the quality of their skin and hair.
Another recent drug radically increases the survival rate for people suffering from advanced lung cancer. That drug will not immediately save lives. Before it can be sold to the public, it first has to be approved by drug regulators like the FDA, which could take a long time. Many people die waiting for the FDA to approve life-saving drugs. For example, at least a hundred thousand people died waiting years for the FDA to approve beta blockers. One of the FDA officials involved in delaying their approval was John Nestor. Nestor was notorious for following rules in ways designed to deliberately delay other people, such as his habit of deliberately driving slowly in the fast lane on highways in order to slow down other motorists.
Scientists have developed tiny robots made of human cells to repair damaged cells. And Arizona State University scientists “have successfully programmed nanorobots to shrink tumors by cutting off their blood supply,” eliminating cancers. Gene therapies are being used to cure inherited blindness and deafness in some people.
