Orforglipron: The next big thing?

[Augu5+1ne]

A pill form of GLP1 and GIP agonist would be revolutionary. I don’t know if a pill form of glucagon will be possible though, so oral tirzepatide would be the first goal. Oral retatrutide would be the dream.

 

[keangkong]

No. Comparing to a control group is required, but it doesn't have to be a placebo control group. It's 100% acceptable, even required, to compare a new treatment to the standard-of-care treatment.

For example, if I were testing a new oral medication for Type 2 DM, I might randomize the participants to receive either the new med or metformin, which would act as the control. It would be unethical to randomize them to a placebo when they have a serious disease with a known effective treatment. This is my argument for GLP-1Ras, too.

We wouldn’t conduct a trial with a treatable form of cancer where we give a placebo. That would be unethical. Instead we use a conventional treatment and a treatment that we hope will work better.