Would a sublingual dose be possible/more effective? Research in other (um, yeah, medicinal!) compounds shows that it can be an effective pathway to the bloodstream rather than trying to survive the digestive system.

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CGMthrowaway 3 hours ago | parent | next [-]

Sublingual is even harder. The sublingual mucosa is thin but selective. It strongly favors molecules that are small, lipophilic and uncharged. Semaglutide is about 8-10x too big, highly polar and charged.

Injection is really the only method with any substantial bioavailability. BUT, low (<1%) bioavailability does not necessarily mean useless.

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cassepipe 2 hours ago | parent [-]

> BUT, low (<1%) bioavailability does not necessarily mean useless.

Can you say more about that point ?

	▲	nerdsniper an hour ago \| parent [-]
		If the drug has a relatively low marginal cost of production, and the stomach just breaks down 99% of it without side effects, you can just manufacture 100x more, give it orally, and eat the cost of the 99% that gets lost along the way. Injectable Semaglutide/Tirzepatide (>99.8% pure) are currently sold at a profit from China for around $2-3/weekly dose. Rybelsus (oral semaglutide) is sold at roughly the same cost per milligram, even though it's made in FDA-approved facilities (you just need to take >= 40x more milligrams per month, bringing it to $1000/month in the USA) So manufacturing oral doses 100x higher than injectable seems to be economically viable.

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rodarmor 3 hours ago | parent | prev [-]

It would be hilarious if people wound up snorting or boofing their GLP-1s (≧▽≦)

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2 hours ago | parent | next [-]

[deleted]

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pstuart 2 hours ago | parent | prev [-]

Insufflation for medicinal purposes if it works and doesn't cause harm seem like a win. Less needles == more use.

	▲	LoganDark 17 minutes ago \| parent [-]
		Ancedotal but it's really hard for me to do insufflation because of the discomfort. Of course if my life depended on it I could probably do it but otherwise I'd rather not.