The year 2023 was dubbed “the year of Ozempic,” but it now seems that Glucagon-like peptide-1 (GLP-1) drugs may define an entire decade – or even a longer era. These game-changing medications, which mimic the hormone GLP-1, have shown significant benefits in managing diabetes, weight loss, and treating various other diseases such as heart disease, kidney disease, liver disease, Alzheimer’s and dementia, Parkinson’s, and addiction.
The widespread use of these drugs may be contributing to a reversal of the obesity epidemic in America. However, what’s most astonishing is that researchers identified the key breakthrough for GLP-1 drugs nearly 40 years ago, long before many Americans were even aware of the term “obesity epidemic.”
In a recent publication, Jeffrey Flier, a former dean of Harvard Medical School, shared his personal account of how he co-founded a biotech start-up to pursue GLP-1 as a potential treatment for diabetes in 1987. Researchers had previously discovered that GLP-1 enhances insulin secretion in the presence of glucose.
Source: https://www.nytimes.com/2024/12/25/opinion/ozempic-weight-loss-pfizer-diabetes.html