My experiment with GLP-1 receptor agonists 

GLP-1 receptor agonists were initially studied and approved for the treatment of diabetes. As often happens with treatments, once they are used in humans, people start to experience adverse events and benefits that were not previously known about. Pharma companies do extensive research on new drugs before (Phases 1, 2 and 3) and AFTER (Phase 4) they are approved. However, no matter how much is known about a particular drug, there is only one person in the world that has the exact anatomy and physiology and health conditions that I have and that is ME. So my experience will likely be within all that is known about the medication, but I could experience something unique or unexpected that is not in the FDA approved label. Should this happen, I would report it to the FDA and and the Pharma company. This is the process that leads to drugs being withdrawn from the market years after they are approved.

Adverse events that are very rare do not show up until the drug is used by a magnitude more of people than is studied in the initial clinical trials. Prior to approval, drugs are studied in usually less than 5,000 patients. After approved drugs can be prescribed to hundreds of thousands of patients so new outcomes show up – good and bad. These outcomes need to be reported and aggregated in order to determine if an action is necessary. Unfortunately the reporting process is time consuming for patient and physician so often reports are incomplete which can delay important actions.

Most clinical trials compare groups of subjects on different treatments but there is a type of research know as “N of 1” studies where the subject is his/her own control. I am conduction a N of 1 trial on myself.

One thought on “My experiment with GLP-1 receptor agonists 

  1. Can you tell me what you have for insurance that allowed it to be used only as an obesity drug? And how much it is costing you?

    I didn’t know there was a weekly injection possible. I thought it had to be daily.

    Like

Leave a reply to deborawiley Cancel reply