Hacker News Reader

Comment by ufo | Hacker News Reader

For more context, Derek Lowe recently wrote a very interesting blog post about this drug:

https://blogs.sciencemag.org/pipeline/archives/2021/02/15/gl...

This is not a miracle drug. It needs to be injected, comes with a risk of serious side effects and we don't have long term safety data. However, diabetes and obesity are also serious so anything that promises to help on that front is welcome news.

View on HN

> It needs to be injected,

There is an oral once-a-day version sold under the brand name Rybelsus. It is very likely that if they did a similar tests for it you would see similar results as for the injection version (Ozempic).

Would just loosing weight actually help with diabetes? I thought it had more to do with nutrition than sheer body mass, which explains why so many non-obese people get it while many morbidly obese people never do. I can definitely see how reduced mass would help reduce strain on the heart, though.

Some people can rid themselves of type 2 diabetes by losing weight, and obesity is a known risk factor for getting it in the first place.

Yeah, but isn't that because obesity correlates with poor nutrition and weight loss correlates with improved nutrition?

No, the actual amount of fat is a factor

As Derek says at the end, there is an oral version of the drug.

The oral version doesn’t seem to be effective at lowering body weight it’s given in conjunction with a strict diet and exercise.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com