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▲FDA approves Novo Nordisk's Wegovy pill, the first and only oral GLP-1 (prnewswire.com)

28 points by andsoitis 2 days ago | 11 comments

ggm 2 days ago [-]

Longterm, are pills both cheaper to manufacture and distribute than injectable? It's tempting to assume so because of not needing a mechanism and production line processes towards pill encapsulation. About the only possible advantage a liquid would have is flow state manufacturing and avoidance of drying cycles somewhere in production. I can't see that outweighing the cost of the injector.

Cost, and price are of course fully disconnected here. I look forward to Indian and Canadian generics in due course.

devilbunny 2 days ago [-]

> are pills both cheaper to manufacture and distribute than injectable

Vastly. Dehydrating purified compounds is cheap and easy, and pills don't have to be truly sterile. Sterile injectables are not cheap lines to set up even aside from packaging in the injector.

iancmceachern 2 days ago [-]

Exactly, and this is because a huge part of our immune system lies in our gut. You can eat things all day that would kill you if injected.

hyghjiyhu 2 days ago [-]

I think it's also the physical barrier. Like how getting bacteria on your skin is no big deal.

cheald 2 days ago [-]

This is, specifically, why oral GLP-1s haven't been a thing until now; peptides are too fragile to survive the digestive system and make it into the bloodstream.

toomuchtodo 2 days ago [-]

Yes, the cost and distribution stories are better for oral vs injectable. This pill is a peptide, which means you still have to be mindful when you take it versus food and beverage. Eli Lilly’s version is a small molecule versus a peptide, which means you can take it at any time. Long story short, for most obesity situations, this is going to be a broad system improvement.

Lilly is building a large manufacturing facility north of Indianapolis in Lebanon, and these drugs will be part of their manufacturing.

moioci 1 days ago [-]

Headline is incorrect; Rybelsus, an oral semaglutide, was approved in 2019. Maybe oral Wegovy is the first oral GLP-1 approved for obesity rather than diabetes.

gedy 2 days ago [-]

GLP-1 meds are so effective, and likely will be cheap enough for most that I worry that there will be a "RTO" type push from companies to ban or discourage them due to the financial impact on food, snack, booze companies.

john01dav 2 days ago [-]

That would be a horrifying violation of bodily autonomy.

This doesn't mean that it won't happen, but it does make it especially vile if it does.

resoluteteeth 2 days ago [-]

The thing is, even people who are obese and gaining weight over time are usually just eating a tiny calorie surplus each day.

If people take GLP-1 meds and get down into the normal range, at that point even if they stay on the drugs, they're going to have to adjust the dose so they stop losing weight again (without gaining weight).

This means that even if everyone who's overweight or obese started taking GLP-1 drugs and started losing weight right now, the reduction in food consumption would still be limited and short term.

So I think this concern is somewhat overblown.

gedy 2 days ago [-]

They really don't seem to work that way, it's not a calorie minusing weight loss pill.