Dhruv Khullar

That's right.

So diabetes, obesity, addiction, these are just a few of the conditions for which this class of medications is being studied.

I mean, people seem to have beneficial effects for cardiovascular health or stroke risk.

There have been studies published that individuals with fatty liver disease or chronic kidney disease, those things either slow down or even reverse on GLP-1 medications.

Interestingly, even osteoarthritis seems to have some evidence.

So things that we would not have anticipated...

seem to be amenable to treatment with GLP-1 medications.

And some of that is independent of the weight loss.

One reason might be that GLP-1s are having some type of anti-inflammatory effect.

So there's a change in the amount of inflammation in the body, and that's what's contributing here.

You know, I don't want to come off as a total booster of these medications.

I think there are things that we should talk about in terms of cost and side effects that may limit the use of the medications in some people.

But I have been struck by just how many conditions seem to be amenable to these drugs.

Anytime people start talking about a wonder drug, we should approach that with some skepticism.

And I have approached that with skepticism, and I've been surprised at how many times the evidence actually has supported their use for various conditions.

But that being said, there are things that should still give us caution.

So I think the first is that it can be hard for a lot of people to stay on these medications.

Drugs only work if you take them, but at least in some studies, half or more of people come off these medications within a year of starting to take them.

And so, of course, that is going to limit how effective they can be if people aren't able to stay on them.

It's also possible that some people experience psychological side effects.