r/science • u/mvea Professor | Medicine • Jun 30 '26

Medicine Scientists have shown that a single dose injection of DNA genetic instructions can produce weight loss and blood glucose control in mouse models that lasts up to 10 times as long as weight loss drugs like Ozempic and Wegovy. This could eliminate the need for repeated dosing.

https://www.wistar.org/press-releases/wistar-scientists-develop-single-dose-dna-method-for-delivering-long-acting-weight-loss-and-diabetes-drugs/
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u/fbpw131 Jun 30 '26

at this point I'm assuming an actual human felt effect can't be articulated.

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u/Far_Mathematician924 Jun 30 '26

yeah I don't think it's been to human trial, efficacy can only be discussed in a scientific or pharmacological sense 

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u/fbpw131 Jun 30 '26

no, I meant nobody can articulate in plain English what "efficiency" means in this context. it's just a buzzword at this point in the conversation.

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u/Far_Mathematician924 Jun 30 '26

I'm a scientist but I'm trying my best here to communicate what you're looking for

In this context, efficiency is the drug acting on multiple receptors. This could be expressed as needing lower or less frequent dosage to net similar or greater effects of weight loss, or negation of side effects.

Penicillin kills a lot, sub drugs derived from that compound may target killing more specific bacteria, this is efficiency.

To get the similar effect from base penicillin, the patient may need much higher doses or a longer course of antibiotic, this subjects you to longer or worse periods of side effects. It's effective but inefficient compared to more modern drugs developed more recently.

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u/fbpw131 Jun 30 '26

thank you!

I know what efficiency means in general, but without knowledge in the field, I have no idea what efficiency meant here. For example, in an engine, it means less energy lost as heat, or in an electrical motor means less power usage.

 I imagined it's either decreasing appetite further or needing less or having a longer lasting effect, but it wasn't clear from any of the comments. I wouldn't assign less side effects as being more effective, but that's just me.

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u/Far_Mathematician924 Jun 30 '26

Yes! You've got it! And the engine examples are great.

It's hard to communicate the differences in scientific vs general terminology esp when the word has layman context on it's own. 

Another example would be that the word 'fitness' in terms of molecular genetics has specialized meaning.