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Chapter 1: What is the main topic discussed in this episode?
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They were drugs first approved to treat diabetes and then caused a frenzy when it was discovered they were great for weight loss. Now scientists are discovering GLP-1 drugs like Ozempic might offer so much more, from reducing the risk of heart attack to treating kidney disease. Today, Dr Paul Joyce, a pharmaceutical scientist at Adelaide Uni, on how Ozempic is shaking things up again.
I'm Sam Hawley on Gadigal land in Sydney. This is ABC News Daily. Paul, it's been a few years now since Ozempic seemed to take the world by storm, but really it's become sort of like a miracle drug.
Yeah, absolutely. I mean, Ozempic and GLP-1 drugs in general have become household names. So it was probably about 2021 or 2022 where some of the real clinical data started to come out that These drugs don't just work for diabetes, but they also work for promoting weight loss. And so the clinical data suggested that people can lose up to around 15% to 25% of their weight.
But, I mean, it's quite interesting in the sense that it seems like it's only happened in the last few years, but it's actually been, you know, 20 years in the making.
Yeah, and in the beginning it was like a drug for Hollywood celebrities and influencers, but really now it's a much wider cohort of people that are turning to this class of drugs.
Yeah, absolutely. And I think, you know, there's more and more evidence coming out kind of every day that these drugs can work across a broad spectrum of diseases.
Yeah, OK, and we'll come to that in a minute. But just before we move on, can you just remind us how these drugs work, how they suppress the appetite?
Yeah. So what happens is in our bodies, when we consume food, a hormone is produced, it's called GLP-1. And so what happens is that signals to your brain that you're full. And so essentially, these drugs are simulating that hormone. And so they work on certain receptors within your body that then tell your body you're full and tell you to, I guess, stop eating or suppress your appetite.
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Chapter 2: What are GLP-1 drugs and how did they gain popularity?
Yeah, it was so successful that trial they could end it early actually.
Yeah, exactly. So that people that were not receiving the drug would also benefit.
Yeah, and the health regulator in the United States, the FDA, it has been asked now to approve Ozempic to be used to reduce the progression of chronic kidney disease. That will increase demand again for this drug. I mean, there are a lot of people across the world with kidney disease.
Absolutely. I think it will increase demand in Australia, but also worldwide. Once we started to see this dramatic weight loss potential for these drugs, the shortage was a real issue. So that was an issue for about three years there.
It doesn't seem to be an issue anymore, but I think with the ever-progressing trials and things like that showing that there is potentially clinical effect for other diseases, I think Shortage could become an issue again in the future. And I guess a particular, I guess, interesting point for Australia is that currently Ozempic is not approved by the PBS.
So it means people will have to pay full price for these drugs. And so it means that in Australia, we have around 50% of people buying the drugs are actually buying it privately and paying that full price. And so if we have another, I guess, disease or clinical indication that is approved for these drugs, then that's only going to increase demand again.
Yeah, and how much is it actually costing at this point to buy these drugs?
So currently it's an injection either once or twice weekly. It's incredibly expensive. For people that are taking it for weight loss, it's around $300 to $500 a month.
Oh, wow.
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Chapter 3: How does Ozempic work for weight loss and appetite suppression?
Obviously it hasn't been shown to do that just yet but there are some really promising signs for how these drugs can be used cautiously.
Do you think the government will have to start putting these drugs on the PBS at a greater rate given the demand for them and the very high cost?
Yeah, I think so. I think, at least from my understanding, the TGA has always been quite cautious when putting weight loss drugs onto the PBS. The best way, of course, to lose weight is to eat healthy and exercise. And so the TGA especially is always cautious to promote people just taking a pill or injecting themselves to fix their weight.
But when it comes to other diseases, things like chronic kidney disease, where it's a deadly disease, people need new medications for it, I think the TGA will act quite proactively to ensure that people have access to the drugs.
And Paul, we've only discussed the health impacts, of course, but it goes well beyond that too, doesn't it? Because the economic impact of all of this, it really can't be underestimated. It's changing the world.
Absolutely, yeah. And then so, you know, obviously for the manufacturers, there's a few of them. These are trillion-dollar drugs. But also looking at it from an Australia healthcare perspective, if we can reduce disease burden, then we can also reduce the cost on healthcare. So the economic effects are quite wide-ranging.
Dr Paul Joyce is a pharmaceutical scientist at Adelaide University. This episode was produced by Bridget Fitzgerald. Audio production by Sam Dunn. Our supervising producer is David Cody. I'm Sam Hawley. ABC News Daily will be back again tomorrow. Thanks for listening.
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