New weight-loss drugs are highly effective, so why aren’t they widely used?
Weight loss drugs such as Wegovy can be highly effective for obese and overweight people, but lack of insurance coverage and a shortage are limiting use.
A new class of weight-loss drugs is giving some patients with obesity new hope that they’ll be able to lose excess pounds and improve their health without experiencing the dangerous side effects of older medications.
But despite mounting evidence that the drugs are both safe and effective, doctors say relatively few of the country’s millions of eligible patients are taking them.
Diabetes drug could be game changer for obesity and weight lossJune 7, 202202:41“This drug is something that transforms lives for some people,” said Thomas Wadden, the director of Penn Medicine’s weight and eating disorders program in Philadelphia. But, he said, “I don’t think any of these weight-loss medications are being prescribed as much as they should be.”
More than 70 percent of adults in the U.S. are overweight or obese, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Obesity can lead to a variety of other medical conditions, including high blood pressure and cholesterol, Type 2 diabetes and stroke.
The drugs mimic a hormone produced in the gut called GLP-1, which tells the pancreas to secrete more insulin to control blood sugar. They’re not new to medicine; they’ve been used to treat Type 2 diabetes for years. But when doctors noticed that patients also lost weight, drugmakers got on board, offering the medications in higher dosages specifically to treat obesity.
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