Sumeet: Let's get to the hot topic here. So Edward, let's first talk about what exactly is Ozempic? What exactly is Mounjaro? What exactly is Wegovy? What was the initial purpose of these medications? 

Edward:  Okay, yes.  Well, as you know, here in America and pretty much around the world, the pandemic of obesity has tricking pretty much everyone in the country and pretty much in the world. And Diabetes is a huge problem here in America, and here especially in Texas, where the population is riddled with Diabetes.

The researchers were trying to get to a point where they can control the damages caused by Diabetes. And in addition to adding some medications to insulin in the arsenal, they found some medications, some particles that help in controlling the amount of glucose in the blood that keeps circulating for about more than three months that is called the A1C. The A1C is a measurement of the glucose that remains in your blood system for about three months.  Because of that, that means that you have no ways to get rid of that sugar in your system. Therefore, you are experiencing damaging to several organs. And we can talk about that later about the damage that it causes. 

Well, referring back to your question, some researchers decided to experiment with certain drugs that may be able to help out with that measurement called the A1C. And they found out that naturally, when we are eating, when we are hungry, we eat. And as we fill our stomachs, there is a substance that gets released into the system by the intestines.  Firstly, they found a GLP-1. So basically, this particle signals the brain to take away that urge for eating. And they found out later on that that's actually a particle that gives you the signal to be hungry or not to be hungry. And they decided to try out. 

So Semaglutide was researched and yes they were obtaining some good results. But as the study progressed, they realized that not only we’re getting some control of that sugar level in your blood, but people were experiencing body weight loss. And as a side effect of these medications, they realize, wait, this is a medication that's not only going to be able to help people control the amount of sugar in their systems, but at the same time people are losing weight. And when you are a diabetic, obesity is a big problem. It's a big contributor to this state, this disease.

So if you lose weight, if you can manage the amount of weight that you carry with you, many other systems can arrange themselves. So they started studying the possibility of getting it approved for weight control. And as I was just mentioning to you, the first molecule that was tried was Semaglutide. And Semaglutide is a medication or the particle that is included in medications like Ozempic, like Wegovy, an oral formulation called Rybelsus.

And within the family there are some other molecules that were also studied, but they yielded less favorable results when it came to body weight. So Wegovy was introduced in the market, it was approved for its use as Wegovy, marketed as Wegovy for weight loss.  And of course, in the pharmaceutical field, there's always competition, there's always new developments. 

And another company came with Mounjaro. Mounjaro, in my opinion, a more novel medication that not only works as a GLP-1, which is the way Semaglutide works. When I do say Semaglutide, I'm talking about Wegovy, Ozempic, Rybelsus. The medication, it showed a very strange weight of action. It does work as a GLP-1, but it also has activity as a GP1. And GP1 is another way to help control cravings for food and help with the utilization of glucose in your body. 

So this actually can be a game changer in the future if it gets approved for weight loss. Right now, the only indication for Mounjaro is for Type 2 Diabetes and Prediabetes. Actually it should be Type 2 Diabetes. But the fact that it has tremendous success with the percentage of people losing weight in comparison to Wegovy. 

Wegovy - people may lose about like 15% of body weight. In preliminary studies with Mounjaro, people are actually losing up to 22%. Huge, it’s a huge difference. And it's yet to be seen if this medication will be approved for that use as of now. But of label, doctors are kind of finding the way to make it go through. And I honestly think that in the end it's going to be approved for such use as well.

Sumeet: Got it. Awesome. So this is very, very insightful information because there is a lot of confusion around these medications. And now that we're hearing from you, we know that they are effective in weight loss.

If you missed Samantha and Edward's discussion on Ozempic and Eat The Rainbow, you can still watch the full episode here (Part 3 - Green) -->  https://www.facebook.com/cobionic/videos/the-cobionic-talk-show/801701211600377