A affected person holds up a dosage of Wegovy, a blockbuster drug used for weight reduction. —AP Photograph/Amanda Andrade-Rhoades, File
NEW MEXICO, United States — Not like scores of people that scrambled for the blockbuster medicine Ozempic and Wegovy to shed extra pounds in recent times, Danielle Griffin had no bother getting them.
The 38-year-old info expertise employee from New Mexico had a prescription. Her pharmacy had the medicine in inventory. And her medical insurance coated all however $25 to $50 of the month-to-month value.
For Griffin, the toughest a part of utilizing the brand new medicine wasn’t entry. It was discovering out that the much-hyped medicines didn’t actually work for her.
READ: My life on Ozempic, the so-called weight-loss ‘miracle drug’
“I’ve been on Wegovy for a 12 months and a half and have solely misplaced 13 kilos,” stated Griffin, who watches her weight loss plan, drinks loads of water and workouts frequently. “I’ve finished every little thing proper with no success. It’s discouraging.”
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In medical trials, most individuals taking Wegovy or Mounjaro to deal with weight problems misplaced a median of 15 % to 22 % of their physique weight—as much as 50 kilos or extra in lots of circumstances. However roughly 10 % to fifteen % of sufferers in these trials had been “nonresponders” who misplaced lower than 5 % of their physique weight.
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1 in 5 could not reply effectively
Now that tens of millions of individuals have used the medicine, a number of weight problems specialists advised The Related Press that maybe 20 % of sufferers—as many as 1 in 5—could not reply effectively to the medicines. It’s a little-known consequence of the weight problems drug increase, based on medical doctors who warning keen sufferers to not anticipate one-size-fits-all outcomes.
“It’s all about explaining that totally different folks have totally different responses,” stated Dr. Fatima Cody Stanford, an weight problems professional at Massachusetts Common Hospital
The medicine are generally known as GLP-1 receptor agonists as a result of they mimic a hormone within the physique generally known as glucagon-like peptide 1. Genetics, hormones and variability in how the mind regulates vitality can all affect weight — and an individual’s response to the medicine, Stanford stated. Medical situations resembling sleep apnea can forestall weight reduction, as can sure widespread medicines, resembling antidepressants, steroids and contraceptives.
“It is a illness that stems from the mind,” stated Stanford. “The dysfunction will not be the identical” from affected person to affected person.
Regardless of such cautions, sufferers are sometimes upset after they begin getting the weekly injections however the numbers on the dimensions barely budge.
“It may be devastating,” stated Dr. Katherine Saunders, an weight problems professional at Weill Cornell Medication and co-founder of the weight problems therapy firm FlyteHealth. “With such excessive expectations, there’s a lot room for disappointment.”
That was the case for Griffin, who has battled weight problems since childhood and hoped to shed 70 kilos utilizing Wegovy. The drug helped cut back her urge for food and lowered her danger of diabetes, however she noticed little change in weight.
“It’s an emotional curler coaster,” she stated. “You need it to work prefer it does for everyone else.”
The medicines are sometimes prescribed together with consuming conduct and life-style adjustments.
It’s normally clear inside weeks whether or not somebody will reply to the medicine, stated Dr. Jody Dushay, an endocrine specialist at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Heart. Weight reduction sometimes begins straight away and continues because the dosage will increase.
For some sufferers, that simply doesn’t occur. For others, negative effects resembling nausea, vomiting and diarrhea drive them to halt the medicines, Dushay stated. In such conditions, sufferers who had been relying on the brand new medicine to pare kilos might imagine they’re out of choices.
‘It’s not sport over’
“I inform them: It’s not sport over,” Dushay stated.
Making an attempt a distinct model of the brand new class of medication could assist. Griffin, who didn’t reply effectively to Wegovy, has began utilizing Zepbound, which targets a further hormone pathway within the physique. After three months of utilizing the drug, she has misplaced 7 kilos.
“I’m hoping it’s gradual and regular,” she stated.
Different folks reply effectively to older medicine, the specialists stated. Altering weight loss plan, train, sleep and stress habits may have profound results. Determining what works sometimes requires a health care provider skilled to deal with weight problems, Saunders famous.
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“Weight problems is such a fancy illness that actually must be handled very comprehensively,” she stated. “If what we’re prescribing doesn’t work, we all the time have a backup plan.”