Reading the wikipedia page on semaglutide, I was a little confused why one wouldn't just use the peptide it's an analogue of, glucagon-like peptide-1 (GLP-1). It states the only "differences are two amino acid substitutions at positions 8 and 34, where alanine and lysine are replaced by 2-aminoisobutyric acid and arginine respectively."
The article explains that the substitutions increase the half-life of the substance in the body, so I understand that as an advantage of the drug over the naturally occuring peptide. This would be important with an injection. But the skeptic in me wonders if, the drug now is available in an oral form, if the real reason for pushing the drug over GLP-1 is because the drug can be patented and GLP-1 cannot.
While injections are still quite expensive (~$130 per 3mg), pills are available for as little as $4 per 14mg dose (and judging from the dosage information, those pills are splittable).
I don't know the reasoning behind studying the effects of injections vs oral admission.
What does this actually say? The site is blocked to those of us outside of the US, probably because the website owners can't be bothered to comply with GDPR?
The article explains that the substitutions increase the half-life of the substance in the body, so I understand that as an advantage of the drug over the naturally occuring peptide. This would be important with an injection. But the skeptic in me wonders if, the drug now is available in an oral form, if the real reason for pushing the drug over GLP-1 is because the drug can be patented and GLP-1 cannot.