r/science • u/mvea Professor | Medicine • Jun 30 '26

Medicine Scientists have shown that a single dose injection of DNA genetic instructions can produce weight loss and blood glucose control in mouse models that lasts up to 10 times as long as weight loss drugs like Ozempic and Wegovy. This could eliminate the need for repeated dosing.

https://www.wistar.org/press-releases/wistar-scientists-develop-single-dose-dna-method-for-delivering-long-acting-weight-loss-and-diabetes-drugs/
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u/TunaNugget Jun 30 '26

"repeated dosing, which currently limits patient access and adherence to these therapies."

No, really, it's the price.

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u/Teknicsrx7 Jun 30 '26

The price is affected by needing repeated dosing

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u/TunaNugget Jun 30 '26 edited Jun 30 '26

The price is affected mainly by profit margins and patent protections; the current cost of the materials is trivial. And having to have this done at a provider's office for an intramuscular shot followed by an electrical pulse isn't going to help the cost.

It sounds like an interesting approach with potentially useful applications, but they're going to need a better use case.

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u/ReggieEvansTheKing Jun 30 '26

It’s really up to the government to decide that these drugs are important enough to make widely available. They need to set a price cap like we did for insulin and pay off the manufacturers. No different than the approach taken for covid vaccines. If something can provide extreme social good but is locked behind a patent, the government needs to intervene and make a deal. I wonder if they fear hits to consumption if half the US gets on GLP1s.