pharmaceutical

Tirzepatide (another GLP-1 receptor agonist post)

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Tirzepatide Reduces Appetite, Energy Intake, and Fat Mass in People With Type 2 Diabetes — https://doi.org/10.2337/dc22-1710

To reduce the number of clicks the rest of this post is a repost of April Fools 2023 (this is a GLP-1 receptor agonist post). Enjoy!

Ozempic and a similar drug, Wegovy, are weekly shots you give yourself that cause the body to produce insulin. Insulin lowers blood sugar, slows digestion and makes people feel full. Carter-Williams tried it and was amazed.

“You are not hungry,” she says. “Like, I actually have to set timers to make sure that I do eat, because otherwise you actually forget to eat.”

‘You forget to eat’: How Ozempic went from diabetes medicine to blockbuster diet drug https://www.npr.org/2023/04/01/1166781510/ozempic-weight-loss-drug-big-business

Everyone wants the easy way out. I sometimes forget to eat but not because of a miracle drug. You wonder if those of us wanting to lose weight know you can’t stop taking this drug once you start it.

Patients discontinuing the use of weight-loss drugs such as Wegovy risk regaining their original body weight in about five years, a Novo Nordisk official said on Wednesday.

Novo Nordisk Says Stopping Obesity Drug May Cause Full Weight Regain in 5 Years–https://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/990267?src=rss

Side effects?

Just a few https://www.wegovy.com/taking-wegovy/side-effects.html

  • Possible thyroid tumors, including cancer.
  • Inflammation of your pancreas (pancreatitis)
  • Gallbladder problems
  • Increased risk of low blood sugar (hypoglycemia) in patients with type 2 diabetes, especially those who also take medicines for type 2 diabetes such as sulfonylureas or insulin
  • Kidney problems (kidney failure)
  • Serious allergic reactions
  • Change in vision in people with type 2 diabetes.
  • Increased heart rate
  • Depression or thoughts of suicide.

So if you want to lose weight by taking a GLP-1 receptor agonist remember the risks of side effects including the real possibility of having to take a drug that costs up to $1600.00 a month for the rest of your life.

Good luck with that. This joke’s on you.

April Fools 2023 (this is a GLP-1 receptor agonist post)

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Ozempic and a similar drug, Wegovy, are weekly shots you give yourself that cause the body to produce insulin. Insulin lowers blood sugar, slows digestion and makes people feel full. Carter-Williams tried it and was amazed.

“You are not hungry,” she says. “Like, I actually have to set timers to make sure that I do eat, because otherwise you actually forget to eat.”

‘You forget to eat’: How Ozempic went from diabetes medicine to blockbuster diet drug https://www.npr.org/2023/04/01/1166781510/ozempic-weight-loss-drug-big-business

Everyone wants the easy way out. I sometimes forget to eat but not because of a miracle drug. You wonder if those of us wanting to lose weight know you can’t stop taking this drug once you start it.

Patients discontinuing the use of weight-loss drugs such as Wegovy risk regaining their original body weight in about five years, a Novo Nordisk official said on Wednesday.

Novo Nordisk Says Stopping Obesity Drug May Cause Full Weight Regain in 5 Years–https://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/990267?src=rss

Side effects?

Just a few https://www.wegovy.com/taking-wegovy/side-effects.html

  • Possible thyroid tumors, including cancer.
  • Inflammation of your pancreas (pancreatitis)
  • Gallbladder problems
  • Increased risk of low blood sugar (hypoglycemia) in patients with type 2 diabetes, especially those who also take medicines for type 2 diabetes such as sulfonylureas or insulin
  • Kidney problems (kidney failure)
  • Serious allergic reactions
  • Change in vision in people with type 2 diabetes.
  • Increased heart rate
  • Depression or thoughts of suicide.

So if you want to lose weight by taking a GLP-1 receptor agonist remember the risks of side effects including the real possibility of having to take a drug that costs up to $1600.00 a month for the rest of your life.

Good luck with that. This joke’s on you.

Sharp Rise in Drug Overdose Deaths in Seniors

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The researchers used data from the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) to calculate annual overdose deaths from 2002 to 2021 among people aged 65 and older.

Overall, they found that fatal overdoses quadrupled from 1060 in 2002 (three per 100,000) to 6702 (12 per 100,000) in 2021, with the highest rates in Blacks (30.9 per 100,000).

In 2021, about 13% of overdoses were intentional, 83% were unintentional, 4% were undetermined, and less than 1% were homicide. Older women accounted for 57% of intentional overdoses and 29% of accidental overdoses.

Sharp Rise in Drug Overdose Deaths in Seniors – Medscape – Mar 30, 2023 — https://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/990297?src=rss

FDA Approves First Over-the-Counter Naloxone Nasal Spray (Scary News or What?)

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Drug overdose persists as a major public health issue in the United States, with more than 101,750 reported fatal overdoses occurring in the 12-month period ending in October 2022, primarily driven by synthetic opioids like illicit fentanyl.

FDA Approves First Over-the-Counter Naloxone Nasal Spray — https://www.fda.gov/news-events/press-announcements/fda-approves-first-over-counter-naloxone-nasal-spray

Can’t Get Adderall? (plus a bonus Scary Chart)

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This shortage is complicated, and has several causes. Teva Pharmaceuticals, for instance, which is the largest producer, had problems with its factory. And yet, Teva today has Adderall to sell, as do many other producers, but the shortage persists. What is going on? I suspect that we aren’t hearing about one part of the problem. Monopolization. Indeed, monopolies often leads to shortages, which we’ve seen with baby formula, hospital medicine, ammunition, and military equipment. And they are a part of the problem here.

The Monopolies Behind the Adderall Shortage — https://mattstoller.substack.com/p/the-monopolies-behind-the-adderall?publication_id=11524&post_id=110279315&isFreemail=true

The opioid graphic will make a lot more sense when the read the entire article.

Outbreak Linked to Eyedrops

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An alarming outbreak of extensively drug-resistant bacteria linked to eye drops has now sickened 68 people across 16 states, according to the latest update from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. At least 16 people have been hospitalized, eight have lost vision, and four have had their eyeballs surgically removed (enucleation). One person has died, which was reported earlier.

The VIM-GES-CRPA outbreak strain is rare and has never been seen in the US before. Health officials think it was brought into the country in contaminated eye drops manufactured by Global Pharma, a Chennai, India-based manufacturer. The products were sold under the brand names EzriCare Artificial Tears and Delsam Pharma’s Artificial Eye Ointment, which were available nationwide via Amazon, Walmart, and other retailers.

68 now sickened, 4 lose eyeballs in outbreak linked to eyedrops — https://arstechnica.com/science/2023/03/more-people-lose-eyeballs-in-outbreak-linked-to-eye-drops/

Yikes!

I’ll Have the Metformin and Liraglutide Please

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After an average of four years of follow-up, the study found that participants taking metformin plus liraglutide or insulin glargine achieved and maintained their target blood levels for the longest time compared to sitagliptin or glimepiride. This translated into approximately six months more time with blood glucose levels in the target range compared with sitagliptin, which was the least effective in maintaining target levels. Treatment effects did not differ based on age, sex, race, or ethnicity.

However, none of the combinations overwhelmingly outperformed the others.

Two popular diabetes drugs outperformed others in large clinical trial — https://www.nih.gov/news-events/news-releases/two-popular-diabetes-drugs-outperformed-others-large-clinical-trial

BUT if you can Stay as Thin as You Can as Long as You Can maybe, just maybe you won’t develop DM2.

Omicron booster shots are coming—with lots of questions – Updated 9/2/22

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The new shots target both the original strain of the coronavirus and the omicron BA.4/BA.5 subvariants that most people are catching now. This double-barreled vaccine is called a bivalent vaccine. https://www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2022/08/31/1120241293/fda-authorizes-first-revamp-of-covid-vaccines-to-target-omicron

For the BA.4/BA.5 boosters, the companies have submitted animal data. They have not released those data publicly, although at the June FDA meeting, Pfizer presented preliminary findings in eight mice given BA.4/BA.5 vaccines as their third dose. Compared with the mice that received the original vaccine as a booster, the animals showed an increased response to all Omicron variants tested: BA.1, BA.2, BA.2.12.1, BA.4, and BA.5.

Omicron booster shots are coming—with lots of questions — https://www.science.org/content/article/omicron-booster-shots-are-coming-lots-questions

Update 9/2/22

Some answers to commonly asked questions can be found in the Stat article.

On Thursday evening, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Director Rochelle Walensky signed off on the recommendation made earlier in the day by the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices, that the newly formulated vaccines be used.

Your questions on the new Covid vaccine boosters answered — https://www.statnews.com/2022/09/01/your-questions-on-the-new-covid-vaccine-boosters-answered/