3 ms·

The worst thing about these drugs hitting the pharma market in recent years is that it has sucked the air out of the room for other investment due to their imme

by asdff 1y ago

The worst thing about these drugs hitting the pharma market in recent years is that it has sucked the air out of the room for other investment due to their immense profitability. So much cutting edge talent is being squandered to work on these weight loss drugs because they pay the bills better than solving rare disease. I've heard a direct quote from a pharma product manager in person: "we don't look for cures, we look for treatments." You know, because cure implies a one time payment. Talk about perverse incentive.

Waterluvian 1y ago
> So much cutting edge talent is being squandered to work on these weight loss drugs because they pay the bills better than solving rare disease. Isn’t this backwards? Obesity is probably one of the very top health epidemics we’re facing. Rare diseases aren’t.
- asdff 1y ago
  Weight loss is solved already. Diet and exercise. Done. No profit for pharma company doing that though. Rare diseases are not solved, you die or have lifelong quality of life issues. Collectively, they aren't that rare.
  - AlotOfReading 1y ago
    If it's solved, then why are 75% of US adults overweight? I submit that a disease affecting 3/4 adults is still a public health issue even if a treatment exists.
    - asdff 1y ago
      Because people probably have mental health issues that preclude being sufficiently active in their own lives. Will 75% of adults start taking ozempic? Well, they haven't already, so there's that.
  - jncfhnb 1y ago
    Addicted to drugs? Stop doing drugs. Done.
    - asdff 1y ago
      How do you propose getting off drugs without getting off drugs?
  - Magmalgebra 1y ago
    While I get what you're saying I don't think this is what most people think of as "solved". The brass tacks are: 1. Estimates for the cost of obesity globally are somewhere around 2 trillion dollars. 2. Telling people to diet and exercise usually did not get them to lose weight 3. Giving people semaglutide does get them to lose weight So many people in my life who were unhappy and struggling with their weight are now happy because semaglutide worked where advice about diet and exercise did not. I can't imagine most rare disease drugs will have that level of impact.
    - asdff 1y ago
      The advice about diet and exercise did not fail to work. What failed was listening to that advice. It works for people who listen. And what is more you will not be healthy at 80 years old living otherwise sedentary life with ozempic keeping the weight you should be carrying off. You will have no muscle mass. You will be frail and in poor health compared to your peers who cultivated and maintained muscle mass through their life. You will not only have a weak body but your organ health will be in decline. You will have weak lungs and heart. This is going to make medical intervention at the end of your life all the more complicated. Make it difficult for you to survive from things. Now imagine how much of the world might change if we solved the issue of "uninformed people failing to listen to expert advice." I imagine we'd meet all our climate goals and pollution goals in a generation if not less.
  - rurban 1y ago
    That's poor sugar industry propaganda. Doesn't help. You need to fight the root cause.
    - blamestross 1y ago
      The bad news is that the root cause is stress under capitalism. Health is yet another long-term investment poorer people end up being unable to leverage due to lack of liquidity. It takes time and money to ensure a healthy diet. Exercise takes up a massive amount of time and energy. People who are struggling to make ends meet can't afford these things. Tolerance of discomfort isn't unlimited and people don't have infinite willpower. We are pushed to spend all that tolerance and all that willpower at work. These drugs let you buy tolerance of discomfort at a discount, so you can spend more of it at work. My experience is that people generally are already doing their best. They don't need "more willpower" or more threats. They need tools, support, and less things asked of them.
      - rurban 1y ago
        No, the root cause is simply the sugar industry. And the unwillingness of the government to regulate it.
- deleted 1y ago
  [deleted]
0cf8612b2e1e 1y ago
Yeah, the top talent should focus on finding better ways to monetize ads, not a health issue impacting hundreds of millions of people.
- diath 1y ago
  The problem is that this talent is not solving the issue. They're creating appetite suppressants to treat the symptoms of the underlying issue. We should be implementing things like sugar tax instead. Starbucks has no business selling 1500 calories worth of sugar with a sprinkle of coffee in a cup.
  - smt88 1y ago
    Should we stop researching melanoma treatments because melanoma is "solved"? Just don't go out in the sun! What about HIV? That's solved too: just never have sex! Medicine and public health are so easy. As soon as we know how to prevent something, 100% of people will do it!
    - diath 1y ago
      I'm not implying we should completely stop researching treatments. I'm saying that these treatments are only dealing with the symptoms; letting the core underlying issue remain unaddressed will make these symptoms keep coming back - unlike HIV which has had large prevention and awareness programs for decades. No need for childish, snarky remarks.
      - smt88 1y ago
        It's childish to say that we should stop putting money into one of the most important drugs of all time, which... - cures (not treats, but cures for a lot of people) obesity and diabetes - lowers rates of heart disease - reduces the risk of various cancers - may help with addiction ...just because you can also diet to reduce obesity. If it were that easy, people would do it. No one enjoys being obese. There are a million complex factors that cause it, and some of them are genetic. Nearly 100% of people suffer from a disease that would be helped by GLP-1's at some point in their lives. Maybe it won't be useful for all those people because of efficacy or side effects or whatever, but every dollar that goes into them gets us back far, far more years of human life than researching rare diseases.
jryb 1y ago
I’m not so sure. When pharma companies are flush with cash they tend to get more experimental. Lilly’s gene editing group is one of the few that’s doing well (last I heard anyway) and they recently acquired Verve. I can’t imagine that would happen without GLP-1 profits bankrolling everything. Rare disease is effectively charity and the money has to come from somewhere.

by asdff 1y ago

Waterluvian 1y ago

> So much cutting edge talent is being squandered to work on these weight loss drugs because they pay the bills better than solving rare disease. Isn’t this backwards? Obesity is probably one of the very top health epidemics we’re facing. Rare diseases aren’t.

asdff 1y ago
Weight loss is solved already. Diet and exercise. Done. No profit for pharma company doing that though. Rare diseases are not solved, you die or have lifelong quality of life issues. Collectively, they aren't that rare.
- AlotOfReading 1y ago
  If it's solved, then why are 75% of US adults overweight? I submit that a disease affecting 3/4 adults is still a public health issue even if a treatment exists.
  - asdff 1y ago
    Because people probably have mental health issues that preclude being sufficiently active in their own lives. Will 75% of adults start taking ozempic? Well, they haven't already, so there's that.
- jncfhnb 1y ago
  Addicted to drugs? Stop doing drugs. Done.
  - asdff 1y ago
    How do you propose getting off drugs without getting off drugs?
- Magmalgebra 1y ago
  While I get what you're saying I don't think this is what most people think of as "solved". The brass tacks are: 1. Estimates for the cost of obesity globally are somewhere around 2 trillion dollars. 2. Telling people to diet and exercise usually did not get them to lose weight 3. Giving people semaglutide does get them to lose weight So many people in my life who were unhappy and struggling with their weight are now happy because semaglutide worked where advice about diet and exercise did not. I can't imagine most rare disease drugs will have that level of impact.
  - asdff 1y ago
    The advice about diet and exercise did not fail to work. What failed was listening to that advice. It works for people who listen. And what is more you will not be healthy at 80 years old living otherwise sedentary life with ozempic keeping the weight you should be carrying off. You will have no muscle mass. You will be frail and in poor health compared to your peers who cultivated and maintained muscle mass through their life. You will not only have a weak body but your organ health will be in decline. You will have weak lungs and heart. This is going to make medical intervention at the end of your life all the more complicated. Make it difficult for you to survive from things. Now imagine how much of the world might change if we solved the issue of "uninformed people failing to listen to expert advice." I imagine we'd meet all our climate goals and pollution goals in a generation if not less.
- rurban 1y ago
  That's poor sugar industry propaganda. Doesn't help. You need to fight the root cause.
  - blamestross 1y ago
    The bad news is that the root cause is stress under capitalism. Health is yet another long-term investment poorer people end up being unable to leverage due to lack of liquidity. It takes time and money to ensure a healthy diet. Exercise takes up a massive amount of time and energy. People who are struggling to make ends meet can't afford these things. Tolerance of discomfort isn't unlimited and people don't have infinite willpower. We are pushed to spend all that tolerance and all that willpower at work. These drugs let you buy tolerance of discomfort at a discount, so you can spend more of it at work. My experience is that people generally are already doing their best. They don't need "more willpower" or more threats. They need tools, support, and less things asked of them.
    - rurban 1y ago
      No, the root cause is simply the sugar industry. And the unwillingness of the government to regulate it.
deleted 1y ago
[deleted]

0cf8612b2e1e 1y ago

Yeah, the top talent should focus on finding better ways to monetize ads, not a health issue impacting hundreds of millions of people.

diath 1y ago
The problem is that this talent is not solving the issue. They're creating appetite suppressants to treat the symptoms of the underlying issue. We should be implementing things like sugar tax instead. Starbucks has no business selling 1500 calories worth of sugar with a sprinkle of coffee in a cup.
- smt88 1y ago
  Should we stop researching melanoma treatments because melanoma is "solved"? Just don't go out in the sun! What about HIV? That's solved too: just never have sex! Medicine and public health are so easy. As soon as we know how to prevent something, 100% of people will do it!
  - diath 1y ago
    I'm not implying we should completely stop researching treatments. I'm saying that these treatments are only dealing with the symptoms; letting the core underlying issue remain unaddressed will make these symptoms keep coming back - unlike HIV which has had large prevention and awareness programs for decades. No need for childish, snarky remarks.
    - smt88 1y ago
      It's childish to say that we should stop putting money into one of the most important drugs of all time, which... - cures (not treats, but cures for a lot of people) obesity and diabetes - lowers rates of heart disease - reduces the risk of various cancers - may help with addiction ...just because you can also diet to reduce obesity. If it were that easy, people would do it. No one enjoys being obese. There are a million complex factors that cause it, and some of them are genetic. Nearly 100% of people suffer from a disease that would be helped by GLP-1's at some point in their lives. Maybe it won't be useful for all those people because of efficacy or side effects or whatever, but every dollar that goes into them gets us back far, far more years of human life than researching rare diseases.

jryb 1y ago

I’m not so sure. When pharma companies are flush with cash they tend to get more experimental. Lilly’s gene editing group is one of the few that’s doing well (last I heard anyway) and they recently acquired Verve. I can’t imagine that would happen without GLP-1 profits bankrolling everything. Rare disease is effectively charity and the money has to come from somewhere.