Like others have mentioned, liraglutide already exists as a generic! It's not as good as Semaglutide or Tirzepatide, but.

Also, a lot of people are still getting compounded GLP1, to the chagrin of Eli Lilly and Novo Nordisk.

Separately, 2026 is about to completely change the pricing of this stuff, not even taking into account the Trump administration's recent efforts. The price of injected GLP1 is going to implode due to patents lapsing in Canada and other places -- and for the pill forms that come out soon it looks like the Trump administration is keen on keeping prices for that low as well.

At this point most experts lean more heavily on the effect of GLP1s in the brain rather than delayed gastric emptying -- it's more of a brain drug than anything else which is why it works so well.

Basically, the gastro-intestinal side effects are the biggest issue, along with CVS (not the store) and possibly eye problems.

That said, the negative side effects look to be incredibly rare and manageable (including via stopping treatment) -- and the positives are quite tremendous.

It's not a magic drug, but it is the first of it's kind with such a skew to the positive on side effects.

A bit late, but thanks for noting this -- I had no idea that this workaround was so well established. I don't often dive into concrete suggestions on how to obtain GLP1s because of how it could be perceived, but maybe I've underestimated how many people know how to do this right now.

Absolutely -- certainly in their biggest markets they'll be able to protect those patents.

Both companies have thus far been unable to really stop compounding pharmacies and/or gray market suppliers from replicating though, and price negotiation with the government is definitely going to happen (Trump recently announced wanting $150 GLP1s, Novo's lawsuit against medicare price negotiation failed)... I do not have much faith in their ability to protect their pricing power for very long, which unfortunate for them is probably what's best for humanity and is very well known at this point.