2024-12-12
56 分钟In a wide-ranging conversation with Ezekiel Emanuel, the policymaking physician and medical gadfly, we discuss the massive effects of GLP-1 drugs like Ozempic, Wegovy, and Mounjaro. We also talk about the state of cancer care, mysteries in the gut microbiome, flaws in the U.S. healthcare system — and what a second Trump term means for healthcare policy.
The United States is one of just two countries that allow pharmaceutical firms to freely advertise their products directly to consumers.
The other is New Zealand.
So if you ever watch TV in the US you have likely seen many ads for prescription drugs.
But advertising doesn't guarantee success.
The research and development of these drugs is very expensive, and most of them never earn back their investment.
The pharmaceutical industry therefore relies on the occasional blockbuster drug.
A blockbuster defined as doing more than a billion dollars a year in sales.
If I asked you to name a blockbuster drug from the past, you might say Lipitor, a statin originally from Parke Davis, or Humira, an anti inflammatory now sold by Abbvie.
And can you name a current blockbuster?
The first drug that comes to mind might be this one O o Ozempic.
If you watch even a tiny bit of tv, you've probably seen an ad for Ozempic.
Their jingle is sung to the tune of the 1974 pop hit Magic by a band called Pilot, which had exactly one US hit.
Ozempic, which is sold by the Danish multinational Novo Nordisk, is not a one hit wonder.
It is one of a group of drugs known as GLP1s.
And many Americans would agree that they are magic.
GLP stands for glucagon, like peptide, which is a hormone produced in the human gut, and these drugs mimic the activity of that hormone.
Ozempic was developed to treat type 2 diabetes, which used to be called adult onset diabetes, to distinguish it from the more serious type 1 diabetes which most often occurs in young people.
But those lines have blurred as many more people around the world, including a lot of young people, are now getting type 2 diabetes.
Diabetes is a condition whereby the pancreas can't produce enough insulin to modulate your level of glucose or blood sugar.
Over the long term, high blood sugar can lead to all kinds of problems.