Hacker News with Generative AI: Pharmaceuticals

New anti-obesity drugs outperform Ozempic (elpais.com)
For decades, people who are overweight have been given simple advice: move more and eat less. However, in more than 80% of cases, this approach only works in the short term.

Obesity, Medicine, Healthcare, Pharmaceuticals

15 points by geox 1 day ago | 1 comments

Natural occurring molecule rivals Ozempic in weight loss, sidesteps side effects (medicalxpress.com)
A naturally occurring molecule identified by Stanford Medicine researchers appears similar to semaglutide—also known as Ozempic—in suppressing appetite and reducing body weight.

Medicine, Health, Weight Loss, Pharmaceuticals, Science

408 points by pseudolus 2 days ago | 364 comments

GLP-1 drugs: An economic disruptor? (2024) (wildfirelabs.substack.com)
In 2021, Lisa Chen, a software engineer, started a new weight-loss medication. Then, something interesting happened at her local coffee shop, her employer's healthcare costs, and the global economy.

Healthcare, Economics, Pharmaceuticals, Weight Loss

385 points by herbertl 7 days ago | 531 comments

A Chinese company made a drug that beat the biggest-selling medicine (cnn.com)

Pharmaceuticals, China, Competition

4 points by thelastgallon 9 days ago | 0 comments

Hotdogs and motorways: The ripples created by Denmark's Ozempic and Wegovy boom (bbc.com)
American demand for weight-loss drugs is supercharging Denmark’s economy and transforming a small Danish community into an unlikely boomtown.

Economy, Healthcare, Denmark, Pharmaceuticals, Obesity

6 points by PotatoNinja 16 days ago | 0 comments

China's leap in pharma: slow and fast trends behind its rise (alexkesin.com)
In 2024, China’s pharmaceutical industry made headlines. To some extent – it was one of the biggest shocks of last year. Once known primarily for generic drugs and contract manufacturing, China is now producing innovative therapies, attracting major investments, and striking high-profile deals with Western pharma – something few expected only a decade ago would happen.

Pharmaceuticals, China, Healthcare, Business, Innovation

5 points by quadrin 16 days ago | 0 comments

Ask HN: Opinion on efforts to find prior art on outrageous priced drugs (ycombinator.com)

Pharmaceuticals, Pricing, Legal Issues, Technology, Business

8 points by JPLeRouzic 16 days ago | 10 comments

It's not just AI. China's medicines are surprising the world, too (economist.com)
It’s not just AI. China’s medicines are surprising the world, too

China, Medicine, Pharmaceuticals, International Relations, Surprises

38 points by helsinkiandrew 20 days ago | 62 comments

The lottery of the snakebite antivenom industry (theguardian.com)
Investigation reveals ineffective products being sold across Africa, with poor regulation and shortage of effective medication leading to needless deaths

Health, Africa, Regulation, Pharmaceuticals

77 points by n1b0m 23 days ago | 39 comments

New obesity drugs are coming: these are the ones to watch (nature.com)
Dozens of new obesity drugs are coming: these are the ones to watch

Medicine, Health, Pharmaceuticals, Obesity

5 points by sohkamyung 24 days ago | 0 comments

The Physicians Are Healing Themselves, with Ozempic (nytimes.com)
At cardiology conferences and diabetes meetings, doctors can’t help noticing that thin seems to be very in.

Health, Medicine, Obesity, Weight Loss, Pharmaceuticals

43 points by CharlesW 26 days ago | 86 comments

How a Leftist Activist Group Helped Torpedo a Psychedelic Therapy (nytimes.com)
After more than three decades of planning and a $250 million investment, Lykos Therapeutics’ application for the first psychedelic drug to reach federal regulators was expected to be a shoo-in.

Politics, Psychedelic Therapy, Pharmaceuticals, Activism

7 points by mikhael 32 days ago | 2 comments

US drug agency approves potent painkiller – the first non-opioid in decades (nature.com)
The FDA’s nod for suzetrigine bolsters confidence in the pharmaceutical industry’s strategy to target sodium channels.

Pharmaceuticals, Pain Management, Medical News, FDA Approval, Sodium Channels

32 points by pseudolus 36 days ago | 2 comments

FDA approves Vertex's non-opioid painkiller, first new pain medicine in decades (cnbc.com)

FDA Approval, Pharmaceuticals, Pain Management, Healthcare

7 points by donsupreme 36 days ago | 0 comments

FDA Approves Novel Non-Opioid Treatment for Moderate to Acute Pain (fda.gov)
Today, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration approved Journavx (suzetrigine) 50 milligram oral tablets, a first-in-class non-opioid analgesic, to treat moderate to severe acute pain in adults.

FDA, Pharmaceuticals, Pain Management, Medical News, Health

8 points by impish9208 37 days ago | 1 comments

FDA Approves drug to treat pain without opioid effects (nytimes.com)
The Food and Drug Administration approved a new medication Thursday to treat pain from an injury or surgery.

FDA, Pain Management, Pharmaceuticals, Medical News

53 points by remh 37 days ago | 32 comments

Weight-loss surgery down 25 percent as anti-obesity drug use soars (2024) (news.harvard.edu)
A new study examining a large sample of privately insured patients with obesity found that use of drugs such as Ozempic and Wegovy as anti-obesity medications more than doubled from 2022 to 2023. During that same period, there was a 25.6 percent decrease in patients undergoing metabolic bariatric surgery to treat obesity.

Weight Loss, Medical Treatments, Pharmaceuticals, Healthcare, Obesity

7 points by paulpauper 39 days ago | 1 comments

Ozempic and Wegovy are selected for Medicare's price negotiations (apnews.com)
Popular weight loss and diabetes drugs like Ozempic and Wegovy have been added to Medicare’s list of medications that will be negotiated directly between the government and drug manufacturers, the Biden administration said Friday.

Healthcare, Pharmaceuticals, Government, Medicare

188 points by geox 50 days ago | 328 comments

Ask HN: Why do some medicines come as pills and others as capsules? (ycombinator.com)
Ask HN: Why do some medicines come as pills and others as capsules?

Pharmaceuticals, Medicine, Health, Science

9 points by litoE 69 days ago | 8 comments

Pfizer Stopped Us from Getting Ozempic Decades Ago (nytimes.com)
They called 2023 the year of Ozempic, but it now seems GLP-1 drugs might define an entire decade — or an even longer era.

Pharmaceuticals, Health, Obesity, Medical Research

15 points by bko 72 days ago | 2 comments

McKinsey and Company to pay $650M for role in opioid crisis (npr.org)
The global consulting firm McKinsey and Company Friday agreed to pay $650 million to settle a federal probe into its role in helping "turbocharge" sales of the highly addictive opioid painkiller OxyContin for Purdue Pharma, the U.S. Justice Department announced on Friday.

Business, Law, Opioid Crisis, Pharmaceuticals

390 points by pseudolus 85 days ago | 303 comments

The benefits of Ozempic and its kin may extend far beyond weight loss (sciencenews.org)
This year, the popularity of the diabetes and weight-loss drug semaglutide has continued to surge. You’ve probably seen ads on social media or heard from friends who’ve tried top-selling brand-name versions, Ozempic and the higher-dose variety Wegovy (SN: 6/29/24, p. 5), or read accounts of people microdosing these drugs.

Medicine, Weight Loss, Health, Pharmaceuticals

5 points by sohkamyung 86 days ago | 0 comments

Weight loss drugs may also treat addiction, Alzheimer's, and heart disease (arstechnica.com)
Pharmaceutical companies are already cashing in on their other health benefits.

Pharmaceuticals, Health, Weight Loss, Addiction, Alzheimer's

12 points by thehoff 86 days ago | 1 comments

Why Recursion Pharmaceuticals abandoned cell painting for brightfield imaging (owlposting.com)
At this point, you’d be hard pressed to not have heard of Recursion Pharmaceuticals.

Pharmaceuticals, BioTech, Science, Imaging

66 points by abhishaike 86 days ago | 11 comments

Ozempic Killed Diet and Exercise (theatlantic.com)
Doctors might be slow to admit it, but Ozempic and other GLP-1 drugs are making dieting and exercise obsolete.

Health, Pharmaceuticals, Diet, Exercise

7 points by bookofjoe 88 days ago | 6 comments

FDA Heads to Court to Defend Decision Protecting Drug Monopoly from Competition (hntrbrk.com)
In October, the U.S. Supreme Court rejected the latest maneuver from United Therapeutics Corp. to block a new lung disease treatment from being offered to patients by rival Liquidia Technologies.

Pharmaceuticals, Law, Business, Competition

8 points by impish9208 93 days ago | 0 comments

CVS, UnitedHealth, Cigna sue to block FTC case over insulin prices (cnbc.com)

Healthcare, Lawsuits, Pharmaceuticals, Insurance

7 points by croes 94 days ago | 0 comments

Novo Nordisk sells hit weight-loss drug in China–at fraction of US price (arstechnica.com)
Patients in China will be able to purchase the blockbuster weight-loss drug Wegovy for 1,400 yuan, or about $193, just a fraction of the US list price of $1,349, according to media reports.

Pharmaceuticals, China, Business, Healthcare, Pricing

5 points by belter 109 days ago | 0 comments

Why do hospitals keep running out of generic drugs? (npr.org)
There's something strange going on in hospitals. Cheap, common drugs that nurses use every day seem to be constantly hit by shortages. These are often generic drugs that don't seem super complicated to make, things like dextrose and saline (aka sugar water and salt water).

Healthcare, Pharmaceuticals

13 points by idamantium 120 days ago | 1 comments

After decades, FDA moves to pull ineffective decongestant off shelves (arstechnica.com)
In a long-sought move, the Food and Drug Administration on Thursday formally began the process of abandoning oral doses of a common over-the-counter decongestant, which the agency concluded last year is not effective at relieving stuffy noses.

Health, FDA, Pharmaceuticals, Over-the-Counter Medications

299 points by coloneltcb 121 days ago | 3 comments