If GLP-1 Drugs Are Good for Everything, Should We All Be on Them?

Plain English with Derek Thompson

The Ringer

News Commentary, News

4.8 • 1.8K Ratings

🗓️ 16 September 2025

⏱️ 53 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

To read more of Derek's reporting on GLP-1 drugs, you can subscribe to his Substack here. GLP-1 drugs like Ozempic and Zepbound don't just help with Type 2 diabetes and weight loss. They seem to curb alcohol, cocaine, and tobacco use among addicts. In some studies, they prevent strokes, heart attacks, chronic kidney disease, sleep apnea, and Parkinson's disease. They’re associated with a lower risk of several cancers, including pancreatic cancer and multiple myeloma. Arthritic patients on the drugs experienced relief from knee pain that was “on par with opioid drugs.” A small study found that they reduce migraine headaches by 50 percent. And emerging research suggests they might even slow the rate of memory loss among people diagnosed with Alzheimer’s. Is all of this real? And if it’s real, how is one drug doing so many different things? And if it is doing all those things, why shouldn’t we be developing versions of the drug for just about everyone? Today we have two guests: David D’Alessio, chief of endocrinology and metabolism at the Duke University School of Medicine; and Randy Seeley, a professor of surgery, internal medicine, and nutritional sciences at the University of Michigan. We talk about how these drugs work—why they seem to do everything—and how our understanding of them could make them better, more effective, more broadly useful. If you have questions, observations, or ideas for future episodes, email us at [email protected]. Host: Derek Thompson Guests: David D’Alessio and Randy Seeley Producer: Devon Baroldi Disclosure: Dr. Seeley has received research support from several pharmaceutical companies, including Eli Lilly, Diasome, and Amgen. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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0:00.0	As the 21st century was getting underway, Hollywood released a series of films that were daring, entertaining, and absolutely unmissable.
0:09.0	Films like, 25th Hour, Bring It On, Zodiac, and No Country for Old Men.
0:15.0	They arrived during the George W. Bush era, a chaotic time in America.
0:19.0	Think 9-11, Katrina, the mortgage crisis. After the Bush era, a chaotic time in America. Think 9-11, Katrina, the mortgage crisis. After the Bush
0:24.5	years, the country would never be the same, and neither would Hollywood. I'm Brian Raftery,
0:31.9	and in my new limited series, Mission Accomplished, we're going to dive into some of the biggest
0:35.9	movies of the Bush years, and look at what they said about the state of the nation.
0:39.3	We'll go behind the scenes with filmmakers and experts
0:42.3	and relive some of your favorite movies from the early 2000s,
0:45.3	from Donnie Darko to Michael Clayton, from Anchorman to Iron Man.
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1:19.2	Today, would I consider the most interesting question in all of medical science?
1:23.9	How are GLP1 drugs so good at everything?
1:32.3	And if indeed they are good at everything, should we all be on them? Several years ago, scientists took a close look at GLP1 drugs, such as OZempic,
1:37.3	and learned that they were pretty good at helping people lose weight.
1:41.3	In the last few years, they've taken an even closer look and learned that
1:45.8	these drugs are good at just about everything else. GLP-1s, technically known as glucagon-like
	...

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