Blogfinger shares the AMA’s morning reports for doctors:
Paul Goldfinger, MD, FACC.
Reuters (12/22, Fick, Sunny, Wingrove, Santhosh, Roy) reports the FDA on Monday approved Novo Nordisk’s weight-loss pill, “giving the Danish drugmaker a leg up in the race to market a potent oral medication for shedding pounds as it looks to regain lost ground from rival Eli Lilly. The pill is 25 milligrams of semaglutide, the same active ingredient in injectable Wegovy and Ozempic, and will be sold under the brand name Wegovy.” According to Reuters, the pill was “approved for chronic weight management in adults with obesity or overweight and at least one related health condition, broadening the potential patient pool at a time when insurers, employers and governments are wrestling with spiraling health care costs related to obesity.”
Forbes.com
AND: Here is a related report from the AMA:
More older Americans are quitting GLP-1s, related weight loss drugs
The New York Times (12/21, Span) reports on an increasing number of “older adults who begin taking GLP-1s and related drugs…and then stop taking them within months. That usually means regaining weight and losing the associated health benefits, including lower blood pressure, cholesterol and A1c.”
A recent study published in JAMA Cardiology “found that among Americans over 65 with diabetes, about 60% discontinued semaglutide within a year.” Another study published in JAMA Network Open this year found that “patients over age 65 were 20 to 30% more likely than younger ones to discontinue the drugs and less likely to return to them.” According to the Times, “some patients find that medication-induced weight loss lessens rather than improves fitness, because another side effect is muscle loss.” Additionally, “the high rate of GLP-1 discontinuation may also reflect shortages; from 2022 to 2024, these drugs temporarily became hard to find.”