A Statistic That Sums It Up: 15 percent.
That’s the median weight loss experienced by people taking Wegovy, a drug from Novo Nordisk.
The new drugs are the first truly effective obesity drugs. They work by suppressing people’s appetite and craving for food. Many patients started by taking Ozempic, a diabetes drug also by Novo Nordisk that led to weight loss as a side effect. But many more patients are asking for Wegovy, which is approved for obesity. Mounjaro, made by Eli Lilly and approved for the treatment of diabetes, is expected to be approved soon for obesity. People who take it lose a median of 20 percent of their body weight.
Background: Attitudes about obesity and medications are changing.
Obesity is a chronic disease that can result in diabetes and other conditions such as high blood pressure, heart disease, sleep apnea and joint problems.
But obesity is so difficult to treat that many doctors and patients have given up.
Dr. David A. D’Alessio, director of endocrinology at Duke University and a member of Eli Lilly’s scientific advisory board, said he resisted starting a weight-loss clinic at his university. Patients who are told to diet and exercise “lose time and time again,” he says.
Now, he said, he has changed his mind.
Changes in attitudes about obesity are also reflected in the KFF survey, said Dr. Ania Jastreboff, an endocrinologist and obesity-medicine specialist at Yale University and a consultant for developers of new drugs. After decades of hearing that weight loss is just a matter of willpower, most of the public is very interested in medical treatments.
“Before,” he said, “that wasn’t the case.”
What’s Next: New drugs and procedures.
Obesity-medicine specialists say new drugs more powerful than Wegovy and Mounjaro will change the outlook for obese people in a way that has eluded researchers for decades.
While price and insurance coverage poses problems for patients, health economists expect prices to drop as more drugs are approved and companies face competition. Private insurers are also forced to pay; right now, many don’t. Medicare is prohibited by law from paying for weight loss drugs, although there is a strong lobbying effort to change that.
While the KFF survey showed that many potential patients are resistant to the injection, the delivery of the drug with a thin, short needle is quick and easy, said Dr. Robert F. Kushner, an obesity-medicine specialist at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine.
“In my experience, people find a weekly self-injection OK because it takes less than a minute and is easier than they thought,” says Dr. Kushner, who is on the advisory board for Novo Nordisk.
Some companies are also studying an oral version of the drugs.
