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Comment by horsawlarway | Hacker News Reader

GLP-1s are relatively well studied, though. At least compared to the vast majority of "new" drugs.

They have a history going back to the 1970s (50 years) and have multiple FDA approved brands going on 15 years now (Liraglutide - 2009 for the EU, 2010 for the US).

So sure - we're going to get the chance to observe effects that are very hard to tease out prior just because we have a large number of folks taking them now.

But the press talks about them as if they are well studied because... well... comparatively they are.

Basically - even if I agree that caution is warranted here (and I do), your argument can be equally applied to drugs like ACE inhibitors/ARBs, and insulin. Both are which are pretty compelling drugs.

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Also, this effectively eliminating other, well studied and dangerous, health issues definitely makes the risk worth it.

This is categorically solving addiction, obesity, and diabetes (t2 only I believe). I’m very happy to live in a time period where these meds exist.

But diet and exercise are drastically more effective at eliminating these health issues and then some. You can't make a pill for that, though.

It does not "solve" addiction, obesity, or diabetes, it helps alleviate some of their effects. Solving would mean addressing the reason you're addicted, dealing with the underlying behaviors that cause most obesity (unhealthy food, too much food, and too little exercise) and type II diabetes.

There are corner cases where some genetic predisposition, or other factor like cancer treatments or injury lead to obesity or diabetes, and for those cases you probably do need an intervention. But this should not be the case for the masses. It is insane to consider "just giving this drug to everyone" especially when some of the side-effects include:

- Hypoglycemia

- Gallstones

- Pancreatitis

- Kidney failure

- Thyroid cancer (maybe)

and often include

- Diarrhea

- Constipation

- Fatigue

- Abdominal pain

- Bloating

- Burping

- Heartburn

- Blurred vision

From an investor's perspective, I'm sure this is magic. From an interventionist medical system like the U.S., I'm sure this also seems magic. But for nearly all people dealing with these problems it doesn't address the underlying behavioral issues.

If they’ve been around that long, what changed to make them suddenly so broadly used?

- FDA approval for use for weight loss. Previously this was off-label use

- adoption of GLPs into diabetes treatment guidelines

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