Random Thoughts

"For millions of people managing type 2 diabetes, mornings begin the same way — a needle, a dose, and a quiet mental note to do it all again tomorrow.

That routine just changed.

On March 26, 2026, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration approved Awiqli (insulin icodec-abae), developed by Novo Nordisk, as the first and only once-weekly basal insulin ever approved for adults with type 2 diabetes in the United States.

This is not a minor update to an existing drug.

It is the first entirely new class of basal insulin to reach U.S. patients in more than two decades.

Instead of injecting insulin every single day, people with type 2 diabetes using Awiqli will only need one shot per week, on the same day, every week.

That means reducing from 365 injections a year down to just 52.

For anyone who has ever felt the weight of that daily ritual — the anxiety of forgetting, the physical discomfort, the constant reminder that their body needs help — this approval represents something much bigger than a dosing schedule.

It represents relief.

How the Drug Actually Works

Understanding why this injection lasts a full week requires a quick look inside the body.

Most traditional basal insulins are absorbed into the bloodstream and begin breaking down within 24 hours, which is why patients need a fresh dose every day to maintain stable blood sugar levels.

Awiqli works differently.

Its active ingredient, insulin icodec-abae, is engineered to loosely attach to a blood protein called albumin, which is found naturally and abundantly in the bloodstream.

This attachment creates a slow-release reservoir.

Instead of flooding the system and fading fast, the insulin releases gradually and consistently over an entire seven-day period, keeping blood sugar in a healthy range around the clock...

The FDA reviewed and ultimately declined to approve it for people with type 1 diabetes, citing concerns about a modestly increased risk of hypoglycemia in that population specifically.

Some regulatory agencies in other countries, including the European Union, Canada, Australia, and Japan, have approved Awiqli for both type 1 and type 2 diabetes, but for now the U.S. approval is limited to type 2...

What Comes Next

Awiqli is not standing alone in this space for long.

Eli Lilly is developing its own once-weekly basal insulin, called efsitora alfa, which is currently in late-stage clinical trials.

If that drug also earns FDA approval, it would give patients and doctors two once-weekly options to choose from, allowing for personalized decisions based on a patient’s health profile, insurance coverage, and individual response.

The broader direction of travel in diabetes care is unmistakable.

Fewer injections, smarter formulations, and better integration with digital tools like continuous glucose monitors and insulin-tracking apps are all converging toward a future where managing diabetes requires less daily mental effort without becoming any less medically precise...

A Small Shot With Large Implications

It is easy to look at a once-weekly injection and see only a scheduling change.

But the science behind Awiqli, the scale of the ONWARDS trials, and the consistent satisfaction reported by patients all point toward something that matters far more than convenience.

Diabetes management has always asked a lot of people.

It asks for daily vigilance, daily discipline, and a daily willingness to confront one’s own condition, sometimes in uncomfortable or inconvenient circumstances.

Anything that reduces that load, without reducing the quality of care, is worth taking seriously.

For the more than 37 million Americans living with diabetes, and the hundreds of millions more around the world, a simpler weekly routine could mean the difference between a treatment plan that works on paper and one that actually works in a person’s life.

That is the real significance of what the FDA approved on March 26, 2026.

Not just a new drug.

A new way of keeping people healthy, one week at a time."

think you've got the wrong lyrics there

Toupée drop and her two tits pop Out of that tank top and bra And when I say "Doo-doo-doo-doo," bitch, that be K. Dot

and notably in context he is. not talking about murdering the woman he's rapping about here? from the genius annotations

A Toupée is an artificial hair piece, for all practical purposes, a wig. Toupée, like touche and en garde, is a french word. Toupee is being used here in the sense of a convertible…like drop the top…when Kendrick is driving and drops the top on his convertible, his girl can’t help but get a little loose and let the girls out. This ["doo-doo-doo-doo"] is Kendrick’s signature ad-lib likely developed from his song “Cartoon & Cereal.” This ad-lib is meant to resemble gunshots. This is something Kendrick came used to due to his upbringing in Compton, a city known notoriously for its high crime rate. K-Dot was Kendrick’s original rap name, and has now become an alter-ego. While Kendrick himself is laid back and calm, K-Dot is the more aggressive Compton side.

I know Kendrick isn’t perfect, but I used to talk about a lot of artists on my old blog and coincidentally it was only the Black artists that had multiple people explaining to me exactly why I shouldn’t listen to them, with baseless and incorrect information that they hadn’t bothered to look up properly. I don’t just think this anon is being racist, I know they are because the second you mention a rap artist, it seems like every white person on tumblr has to crawl out of the woodwork and try to hide their overall disdain for Black artists with random excuses as to why those artists are the most dangerous and violent people alive.

You’re not slick. You could’ve spent five seconds searching up “Kendrick Lamar and trans women” into Google and you’d immediately be linked to Auntie Diaries, but you decided to choose a misheard lyric in a song that didn’t mention trans women once and berate someone for sharing a single Black artist. I’ve seen these games before, anon!!

And not just any Black artist, either, but one who is like… actively trans supportive! I’ve said it before, but Kendrick Lamar has done more for me as a trans man than pretty much every white popstar that tumblr loves to put on a pedestal for simply saying “protect the dolls” once in an interview. Kendrick’s not the perfect ally, but he sure as hell is a genuine one.

[Nightshade Ceramics]