New research suggests that popular weight-loss drugs can provide significant health benefits, even for people who aren’t losing weight.
According to CNN, about 10 to 15 percent of people taking GLP-1 medications such as Wegovy and Zepbound do not experience substantial weight loss. However, emerging evidence shows that the drugs can still improve overall health.
Clinical trials have shown that GLP-1 drugs can reduce the risk of heart attacks and strokes and improve outcomes in heart failure, even in the absence of weight loss.
New findings also suggest benefits for liver health. Wegovy was recently approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration for the treatment of a serious liver disease known as metabolic dysfunction-associated steatohepatitis.
“For the most part, I think the dogma is that this improvement is caused by weight loss,” said Dr. Daniel Drucker to CNN.
“But we have seen evidence in our laboratory that weight loss is not the whole story,” he added.
Drucker added that insurers should reconsider how they assess the effectiveness of the drugs, suggesting they should consider the benefits “across a wide range of very serious diseases.”
“Insurance companies have historically required at least a 5% weight loss after three to four months of treatment in order to continue to cover GLP-1 treatment,” said Dr. Jody Dushay.
“With new information on metabolic benefits, apart from weight loss, this will certainly need to be reconsidered.”
