We have summarised three articles to help keep you informed of the latest developments in the industry. This week our Industry Insights look at the U.S Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approval of Zepbound (tirzepatide) for chronic weight management, a World Health Organisation (WHO) statement on reported clusters of respiratory illness in children in northern China, and an analysis quantifying the paper-mill problem.
Zepbound, made by Eli Lilly and Co, has been approved by the FDA for the treatment of overweight (BMI>27kg/m2) and obesity (BMI>30 kg/m2). Tirzepatide, which is the active ingredient in Zepbound, has already been approved for the treatment of type 2 diabetes mellitus under the trade name Mounjaro. Tirzepatide belongs to a class of drugs that mimic incretins, which are hormones that are released by the gut in response to food, activating the receptors glucagon-like peptide-1 and glucose-dependent insulinotropic polypeptide to reduce appetite and food intake. Zepbound is administered via subcutaneous injection once weekly in progressively higher doses over 20 weeks up to a maximum dosage of 15 mg.
On November 21, the Program for Monitoring Emerging Diseases (ProMed) reported clusters of undiagnosed pneumonia in children in Northern China. WHO has made an official request for detailed information, including additional epidemiologic, clinical information, and laboratory results. Earlier in November, Chinese authorities from the National Health Commission reported an increase in the incidence of respiratory diseases in China and attributed this to the lifting of COVID-19 infections. They have suggested that people in China follow the typical measures to reduce the risk of respiratory illness, including vaccinations, social distancing, wearing masks, and regular hand washing.
An unpublished analysissuggests that 1.5-2.0% of all scientific papers published in 2022 closely resemble the work of paper-mills. “Paper-mills” are businesses that allow researchers to increase their publication numbers by paying for fake papers that resemble genuine research.
The unpublished analysis, shared with Nature,suggests that more than 400,000 published research articles share similarities with studies produced by paper mills. Software was used to analyse the titles and abstracts of more than 48 million papers published since 2000 to identify manuscripts that closely resemble the work of known paper mills. Publishers have attempted to combat the influence of paper mills by using tools (such as the aforementioned software) to detect fraudulent manuscripts. They also offer ways to help spot them, including suspicious email addresses, identical charts that claim to represent different experiments, and duplicate submissions across journals.
