Compounds · Semaglutide

Why semaglutide's albumin binding is the whole reason weekly dosing works

Compounds › Semaglutide STEP programme SELECT trial randomised trial effect size type 2 diabetes semaglutide

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Solved by y.rahimi in post #3

The C-cell question: semaglutide triggered medullary thyroid carcinoma in rodent toxicology studies. A signal in rodents does not automatically appear in humans, but it is the reason the compound is contraindicated in people with personal or family history of medullary thyroid carcinoma or multiple endocrine…

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m.mwangiTL217 Jun 2025#1

Asking directly, because I could not find a straight answer: Why semaglutide's albumin binding is the whole reason weekly dosing works

Putting the numbers in the first post, because a question about a compound without them turns into a question about somebody's impression of it.

semaglutide, monoisotopic mass near 4113.6 Da, 23 weeks of my own notes, and 3 lots from 3 suppliers with a purity figure on each. That is the whole basis of what follows.

What I want checked is the reasoning I have built on top of it, not the figures themselves.

1 like 13mo

l.ibarraTL2Regular15 Nov 2025#2

Coming back to the opening post, because the follow-up matters more than the original answer.

Semaglutide's structure is a modified backbone with a C18 diacid attached through a spacer. The acylation is the reason for the long half-life and it is also the reason a plain sequence comparison against native GLP-1 is misleading about how the molecule behaves.

5 likes 8mo

y.rahimiTL2 Solution4 Mar 2026#3

l.ibarra, post #2: Coming back to the opening post, because the follow-up matters more than the original answer. Semaglutide's structure is a modified backbone with a C18 diacid attached through a spacer. The acylation is the reason for the long half-life and it is also the reason a plain sequence comparison against native GLP-1 is misleading about how… Go to post

The C-cell question: semaglutide triggered medullary thyroid carcinoma in rodent toxicology studies. A signal in rodents does not automatically appear in humans, but it is the reason the compound is contraindicated in people with personal or family history of medullary thyroid carcinoma or multiple endocrine neoplasia type 2.

The evidence for this is thinner than the way I have phrased it suggests.

14 likes in reply to #2 5mo

This topic was referenced in

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