We Need Better (Wider) Clinical Follow-Up Data, On What The Longer Term Effects Are -- From Losing 15% Of Body Weight In About A Year -- Then Gaining 2/3rds Of That Back In Another Year.

We had previously mentioned that the longer term effects of these newer weight loss drugs are still not well understood.

This is particularly true of the "off-cycle" effects. With the injections running over $1,500 per month in many locales, we are now seeing many formerly obese patients decide to not keep spending that money. . . and, unsurprisingly, the weight doesn't stay off. And the health risks which accompany the increasing weight. . . look to be as bad or worse than what the patients saw, before beginning therapy.

Yes, these are clearly multi-billion dollar franchises, but the BBC's data-digging would suggest that the collateral health risks may have been magnified, once the injections are discontinued, over a year's time. Most of all, we need the results from the read out of the larger studies now underway, but this is an emerging cautionary tale (even if on less than fully powered data):

. . .In one trial, around 800 people received weekly semaglutide injections accompanied by dietary adjustments, a prescribed exercise regime and psychological counselling, all of which helped them to lose nearly 11% of their starting weight over four months. But when a third of the participants were subsequently switched to a placebo injection for another year, they regained 7% of the lost weight.

The same trend was seen after the 2021 trial, known as Step 1. After 68 weeks of semaglutide injections, the average patient lost more than 15% of their body weight, but within 12 months of treatment ending, patients regained two thirds of their prior weight loss on average. This was associated with a similar level of reversion to the patients' original baselines in some markers of their cardiometabolic health – a category which includes conditions such as diabetes and heart attacks.

Both Rubino and other experts around the world have seen similar patterns when administering GLP-1 drugs in their clinics. "There will be a small proportion of people, 10% maximum, that are able to maintain [all] the weight they've lost," says Alex Miras, a clinical professor of medicine at Ulster University. . . .

So, we urge you: do stay tuned here -- and, we may begin to see a more cautious approach in prescribing them, to any patient who is not already living in the top one tenth of one percentile, as to personal income, and/or liquid net worth. We will keep an eye on the emerging studies, for the readership. Onward.

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