Semaglutide
Purrptide digest
Before Tirzepatide stole the crown, Semaglutide was eating the world. Once-a-week injection, 15% average body weight loss, three brand names: Ozempic, Wegovy, Rybelsus. Celebrities found it, used it off-label, and pharmacies ran dry for diabetic patients who actually needed it. The Wall Street Journal wrote about it. Twitter could not stop talking about it. Novo Nordisk briefly became Europe's most valuable company on its back. Then Tirzepatide hit 22% and everyone shuffled their rankings.
What this means for you
Still one of the best weight loss tools available if Tirzepatide is out of reach. 15% loss is real and validated across multiple large trials.
Your patients are already on it or asking about it. The cardiovascular data from the SELECT trial was a genuine bonus nobody predicted.
The cardiovascular benefit signal separate from weight loss is the genuinely interesting frontier. GLP-1's effects on the heart deserve their own research agenda.
Novo Nordisk built one of the biggest pharma success stories in decades on this molecule. The compounding market legal fight is still very much live.
For the nerds
Once-Weekly Semaglutide in Adults with Overweight or Obesity
New England Journal of Medicine · DOI: 10.1056/NEJMoa2032183
Read full paper on PubMed →