Nearly 2/3 of Patients Quit GLP-1 Drugs within the First Year

Robert Cucin MD JD MBA Diabetes, metabolic syndrome, obesity , , , 0 Comment

In a recent study published in JAMA Network Open, 65% of those without diabetes discontinued their semaglutide drug in less than one year.

The quit rates were not only for cost but for the side effects and complications. Those who trimmed more weight were more likely to persevere with the drugs and those that regained weight after stopping the medications were more likely to pursue a second course.

While health insurers widely cover this class of glucagon-like peptide (GLP-1) agonists for diabetes, most don’t pay for these drugs for weight loss. List prices often exceed $1,000 per month and insurance is spotty. Just 1% of Affordable Care Act marketplace plans last year covered these drugs for obesity according to KFF, a nonprofit health policy organization.

Medicare paid $5.6 Billion for semaglutides in 2022, demonstrating the immensity of the obesity problem.

As reports of complications and side effects of these drugs continue to accumulate as fast as articles on discontinuance rates, it is evident that even though patients prefer pills to surgery, the semaglutides are not miracle drugs. As with every single drug we use OTC or prescribe, a side effect is just really just one of the many effects of any drug other than the desired one. We consider Endoscopic Visceral Lipectomy both complementary to patients taking the GLP-1’s and suitable as an alternate modality to those patients who don’t start or stop taking them.

208 Million Americans are Obese or Overweight

Robert Cucin MD JD MBA metabolic syndrome, obesity

In a study published in Lancet on November 14, 2024, conducted by the GBD 2021 Forecasting Collaborators using 132 data sources, nearly half of adolescents and three-quarters of adults in the U.S. were classified as being clinically overweight or obese.

The authors forecast that by 2050, 1 in 4 children and 1 in 3 adolescents will be obese.

While clinical research has brought us new pharmacologic agents such as the GLP-1 receptor and GIP dual agonists with both central and peripheral sites of action, none of these drugs are either universally effective or without significant side effects. Further most need to be injected.

The U.S. already has one of the highest rates of obesity and the trend seems to be accelerating. The economic impact on the economy and its exacerbation of racial inequalities is burdensome and unacceptable. We can only hope that as research continues oral medications and solutions that we anticipate will be permanent such as Endoscopic Visceral Lipectomy will brighten the horizon.

We welcome the new Administration’s move to Make America Healthy again. Let’s take a step backwards into less processed foods, more exercise, and un-supersized portions. The most effective drug or operation will fail without suitable patient motivation and participation. And the failure of one generation has a cascading effect on the next with the offspring of obese mothers and fathers being born with more visceral fat and destined to earlier obesity and type 2 diabetes.

Weight Loss and Weight Loss Surgery Dramatically Reduces Cancer Risk

Robert Cucin MD JD MBA bariatric surgery, cancer, obesity

Obesity increases the incidence and mortality from some types of cancer, but it remained uncertain whether intentional weight loss can decrease this risk.

In a retrospective cohort study of 30 318 patients, bariatric surgery was significantly associated with a lower risk of obesity-associated cancer and cancer-related mortality. [Aminian A, Wilson R, Al-Kurd A et al. Association of Bariatric Surgery with Cancer Risk and Mortality in Adults with Obesity. JAMA. Published online June 3, 2022. doi:10.1001/jama.2022.9009]

Among adults with obesity, bariatric surgery compared with no surgery was associated with a significantly lower incidence of obesity-associated cancer and cancer-related mortality. This gives one more important benefit of bariatric surgery, in addition to the improvement of metabolic syndrome, type 2 diabetes, and reduction of cardiovascular morbidity.