1 in 8 adults have taken GLP-1s like Ozempic: survey

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Good afternoon! The usage of a buzzy class of weight reduction and diabetes medicines is extra frequent than ever. 

About 1 in 8 adults within the U.S. has used a GLP-1 drug sooner or later of their life, in keeping with a survey from well being coverage analysis group KFF launched final week. Roughly half of these People, or round 6% of U.S. adults, are at the moment utilizing one of many therapies.

That features Novo Nordisk‘s weight reduction injection Wegovy and diabetes drug Ozempic, together with Eli Lilly‘s weight reduction therapy Zepbound and diabetes counterpart Mounjaro.

The survey exhibits a large swath of People are taking the medicine regardless of intermittent shortages brought on by unrelenting demand. The therapies have skyrocketed in reputation over the past 12 months regardless of their excessive prices and restricted insurance coverage protection.

Let’s dive into a number of the knowledge.

Most adults, or greater than 60%, who’ve used a GLP-1 reported taking them partially to handle continual circumstances corresponding to diabetes or coronary heart illness. That features 39% who took a GLP-1 solely to deal with a continual situation, and 23% who took one to each deal with a continual situation and shed some pounds.

In the meantime, 38% of adults who’ve taken a GLP-1 reported utilizing them particularly to shed some pounds.

Notably, GLP-1 utilization differed relying on race and ethnicity.

Round 18% of Black adults have taken one of many drugsAbout 14% of Hispanic adults have used themRoughly 10% of white adults have taken one of many medicine

Black and Hispanic adults within the U.S. have a better charge of weight problems than white adults, in keeping with KFF’s evaluation of Facilities for Illness Management and Prevention knowledge. 

There have been additionally variations by age group, the survey mentioned.

Practically 20% of adults ages 50 to 64 mentioned they’ve taken a GLP-1 earlier than, which is greater than the shares reported by different age teams.

Nevertheless, youthful adults had been extra possible than these 65 and above to report taking a GLP-1 particularly for weight reduction. KFF mentioned which will mirror the truth that the federal Medicare program doesn’t cowl prescription weight reduction medicine.

Medicare can solely cowl therapies for weight reduction if they’re accepted within the U.S. for an extra well being profit, corresponding to treating diabetes and lowering the chance of coronary heart illness.

However the majority of all adults, no matter whether or not they have taken a GLP-1, mentioned they suppose Medicare ought to cowl the price of the medicine when prescribed for weight reduction and for people who find themselves obese, in keeping with the KFF survey.

Nonetheless, greater than half of adults with medical health insurance who’ve taken GLP-1s mentioned their plans lined a part of the price of these medicine. In the meantime, 24% mentioned their insurance coverage lined the complete value of the drug, and 19% mentioned they paid for the complete value themselves. 

The information factors on this survey may change sooner or later as GLP-1s win approval for brand spanking new functions, corresponding to sleep apnea and fatty liver illness, which might put extra stress on well being plans to cowl them. Keep tuned for our protection on the usage of these medicine. 

Be happy to ship any suggestions, solutions, story concepts and knowledge to Annika at annikakim.constantino@nbcuni.com.

Google on Wednesday introduced a brand new synthetic intelligence mannequin referred to as AlphaFold 3, which it mentioned can illustrate the advanced interactions and constructions of “all of life’s molecules.” The corporate hopes the mannequin will remodel drug discovery and organic analysis. 

AlphaFold 3 predicts the shapes and behaviors of enormous biomolecules like DNA, RNA and proteins, in addition to small molecules which might be typically utilized in medicine, in keeping with a Google weblog publish. When the mannequin is prompted with an inventory of molecules, it could actually present how all of them match collectively by producing their joint 3D construction. 

Modeling molecules like proteins has traditionally been an arduous activity for researchers. Google mentioned experimental protein-structure prediction can value lots of of 1000’s of {dollars} and take years to finish. Consequently, Google mentioned AlphaFold 3 may assist speed up drug discovery and genomics analysis, and contribute to new scientific discoveries like “biorenewable supplies and extra resilient crops.”

The mannequin was developed by Google DeepMind, which researches and builds AI programs, and Isomorphic Labs, which explores purposes of AI inside drug growth. Since AlphaFold 3 features a broad group of biomolecules, it goes past the capabilities of AlphaFold 2, which may solely predict the constructions of proteins. 

DeepMind introduced AlphaFold 2 in 2020. The mannequin has since been utilized by “thousands and thousands” of researchers to develop most cancers therapies, malaria vaccines and design enzymes, Google mentioned. 

AlphaFold 3 is ready to predict the interactions between proteins and different molecules at the least 50% higher than different current strategies, and the mannequin doubled the prediction accuracy for different interplay classes, in keeping with the weblog publish. 

“We consider this new expertise has the potential to be transformative for organic analysis,” Google DeepMind CEO Demis Hassabis mentioned in a LinkedIn publish.

Google mentioned scientists will be capable of entry the “majority” of AlphaFold 3’s capabilities without spending a dime via its new AlphaFold Server. The corporate launched the server as a part of its “ongoing dedication to share the advantages of AlphaFold,” the weblog publish mentioned.

Researchers from Google DeepMind and Isomorphic Labs revealed their findings within the scientific journal “Nature.”

Be happy to ship any suggestions, solutions, story concepts and knowledge to Ashley at ashley.capoot@nbcuni.com.