This photo taken on February 23, 2023 in Paris shows the diabetes drug “Ozempic” (semaglutide) manufactured by the Danish pharmaceutical company “Novo Nordisk”.
Joel Saget | AFP | Getty’s paintings
Patients taking the blockbuster obesity drugs Ozempic or Wegovy will pack the kilos back on when they stop taking the drugs.
“I believe that is what we’re seeing when people go on diets or different exercise regimens, similar to when they switch to drug treatments.” – Karin Conde-Knape, Novo Nordisk senior vp of worldwide drug discovery, said in an interview at CNBC’s Wednesday Healthy Returns Summit. “So long as you maintain the same intake, the same performance, you might be in a position to control your weight. But in case you get out of it, you will immediately start coming back.”
Conde-Knape said the rate of weight gain after stopping Wegova varies from individual to individual, adding that “some will come back sooner, others later.” Novo Nordisk manufactures each prescription drugs.
She said the available data suggest that almost all people will regain most of their weight inside five years of stopping taking the obesity drug, and about 50% of their weight after two to 3 years. Conde-Knape added that some people may very well gain more weight after stopping their obesity medication than they initially lost. The studies showed the same increase in weight in individuals who stopped taking Ozempic.
She said it was related to the effects of the drugs. They mimic a hormone produced in the gut called GLP-1, which signals to the brain when an individual is full. She called it a “direct effect on satiety” and noted that drugs may control what type of food people crave.
Nevertheless, she said the GLP-1 doesn’t alter the connections of “your neural networks to actually define a recent weight setpoint.” So, in line with Conde-Knape, any weight loss will not be everlasting.
The Danish pharmaceutical company still must do more research and clinical trials to grasp what drives these weight gain rates, “but what’s extremely necessary is that you actually have to stay,” said Conde-Knape.
Her remarks come after Ozempic and Wegovy have been in the US highlight lately as “weight loss wonders” in a nation obsessive about body image. In clinical trials, Wegovy reduction body weight by about 15%.
Hollywood celebrities, social media influencers and even a billionaire tech mogul Elon Musk reportedly used the popular pen-shaped injections to shed unwanted kilos.
Wegovy has disappeared from the shelves since getting the Food and Drug Administration approval for “chronic weight management” in June 2021. Similarly, Ozempic, which was the first to be approved for the treatment of diabetes, and is now used off-label for weight loss. This popularity sparked widespread shortages last yr and prompted the Novo Nordisk to accomplish that intensify production from Wegovy.
The deficiency and other aspects corresponding to out-of-pocket costs without insurance or unpleasant negative effects have forced some people to stop taking Ozempic or Wegova. There have been many left to complain this weight rebound that is tough to manage.
Conde-Knape said the data thus far shows that weight loss is sustained with long-term use of the medication. But the company’s data only applies to make use of for a maximum of two to 3 years.
“We’ll need to see how way more with longer treatment durations, how way more persons are in a position to achieve,” she said.
Correction: Karin Conde-Knape of Novo Nordisk says the available data suggest that almost all people will regain most of their weight inside five years of stopping their obesity medication and about 50% of their weight after two to 3 years. She noted that some people may very well gain more weight after stopping their obesity medication than they initially lost. Her comments were erroneously attributed to a particular weight loss drug in an earlier version of this text.