Physician discusses surge in demand for weight-loss drugs and risks in using them
Ali Rogin:
Government surveys show that as much as 40 percent of the U.S. population meets the medical definition of obesity. And, in 22 states, at least 35 percent of adults are obese, mostly in the South and Midwest.
Medications, including the latest FDA-approved drug Zepbound from Lilly, provide hope to patients looking for sustainable weight loss, but they also raise questions related to high costs, insurance coverage and long-term effectiveness. Depending on the drug and insurance, they can cost patients thousands of dollars a year to stay on them. And research suggests people may need to stay on them to maintain that weight loss.
To help look at some of these concerns, I'm joined by Katherine Saunders. She's an assistant professor of clinical medicine at Weill Cornell Medicine and specialist in obesity and weight-related medical complications at New York Presbyterian Hospital.
Dr. Saunders, thank you so much for joining us.
You prescribe these medications to your own patients. You come up with detailed treatment plans. And I want to talk about all of that. Why have these medications become so popular in recent years? And does it have to do with the medical community's rethinking of what factors contribute to obesity in some cases?
Dr. Katherine Saunders, Assistant Professor of Clinical Medicine, Weill Cornell Medicine: Yes, so two reasons.
One is that, when I started training over a decade ago, the most effective anti-obesity medications were associated with 5 percent to 10 percent total body weight loss, which is absolutely what we consider to be clinically significant.
If you think about any diet or any behavioral intervention being associated with 3 percent weight loss, on average, 3 to 5, 5 to 10 was pretty good back then. But the medications that have come out over the last few years are considerably more effective, at 15 percent and now upwards of 22 percent.
So, one is the increase in efficacy in the studies and effectiveness that we're seeing among our patients. And two is that there's greater recognition that obesity is a disease that requires medical management for the vast majority of people to effectively lose weight and then, more importantly, keep that weight off long term.
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