> Their sudden popularity is due to the FDA allowing it to be prescribed for obesity (instead of diabetes), not the discovery of a new drug.
That's not true. I started on liraglutide, which is a previous-gen GLP-1 agonist. It was approved for that purpose in early 2010-s. It worked, but it required daily injections due to its short half-life. It also was unpleasant, as you could feel its effects wax and wane throughout the day.
Ozempic was approved for diabetes in 2018, but became available in sufficient quantities for that purpose in 2019. Doctors started prescribing it off-label for weight loss in 2020 (that's when I also got switched to it), and it was approved by the FDA for weight-loss in mid-2021.
So while we could have moved faster, it's not like there were decades of time lost.
That's not true. I started on liraglutide, which is a previous-gen GLP-1 agonist. It was approved for that purpose in early 2010-s. It worked, but it required daily injections due to its short half-life. It also was unpleasant, as you could feel its effects wax and wane throughout the day.
Ozempic was approved for diabetes in 2018, but became available in sufficient quantities for that purpose in 2019. Doctors started prescribing it off-label for weight loss in 2020 (that's when I also got switched to it), and it was approved by the FDA for weight-loss in mid-2021.
So while we could have moved faster, it's not like there were decades of time lost.