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Comment by themagician | Hacker News Reader

"This has, to our knowledge, caused no ill effects since."

That's the kicker. Damn near everything has side effects. How and why the FDA approves some things but not others is a quagmire, but the truth is that almost everything has side effects. Sometimes it feels like every approved drug ad you see on TV will have some lawsuit 20-30 years later. Look at where we are right now with ozempic. We know one of the side effects is thyroid cancer and doctors are prescribing it left and right while there is money to be made. In 10 years there will be a multi-billion dollar settlement for "misrepresenting the risks".

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Ozempic, aka Semaglutide, the antidiabetic drug also being sold for weight loss. (For those like me who didn't know)

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Semaglutide

Thyroid cancer is one of the least dangerous cancers being easily treated and not generally life threatening. Obviously it would be nice not to get it, but a small increase to the risk of thyroid cancer for a substantially reduced risk of cardiovascular issues and complications from diabetes seems like a very sound medical decision.

Ozempic and thyroid cancer? Not really.

https://healthnews.com/news/possible-thyroid-cancer-risks-wi...

> Damn near everything has side effects.

Maybe that's true, I don't know. But it's worth noting they did not say it had no side effects, it was that they weren't aware of any ill effects.

You also need to weigh cost/benefit though. Everything may have side effects, but the mere presence of side effects is not alone grounds to not use something. For the particular case of ozempic, the effectiveness appears so strong, and obesity causes so many complications and such a massive loss of QALYs, it's probably worth it even if there is an increased risk of thyroid cancer, unless that increase is really huge.

Source on Ozempic causing thyroid cancer?

Only thing I could find was a study in mice (which you should always take with a heap of salt) showing an increased incident, and a modest correlation in human studies but with a lot of caveats and a disclaimer that the study was in no way conclusive.

> doctors are prescribing it left and right while there is money to be made

I think that's painting with a broad brush the motivations of doctors. Case in point: when diagnosed with diabetes, my doctor suggested attempting a modified diet before she'd prescribe medications (such as ozempic). She got no money from a modified diet.

Furthermore, I don't think she would've gotten any money had she prescribed medication; in the US, there's a "Medicaid/Medicare anti-kickback statute" [0]

I suspect that those motivated by money would be more inclined to pursue a lucrative career in finance rather than the long, arduous, and expensive path of becoming a doctor.

[0] https://journalofethics.ama-assn.org/article/it-legal-physic...

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