New research suggests that popular weight loss drugs may provide significant health benefits even for people who do not lose weight.
According to CNN, about 10 percent to 15 percent of people who use GLP-1 drugs like Wegovi and Zepbound do not experience sufficient weight loss. However, emerging evidence suggests that the medications may still improve overall health.
Clinical trials have found that GLP-1 drugs can reduce the risk of heart attack and stroke, and improve heart failure outcomes even when weight loss is not achieved.
New findings also suggest benefits for liver health. Vegovy was recently approved by the US Food and Drug Administration to treat a serious liver condition called metabolic dysfunction-related steatohepatitis.
“For the most part, I think the theory is that this improvement is driven by weight loss,” Dr. Daniel Drucker told CNN.
He added, “But we’ve seen signs in our lab that weight loss isn’t the whole story.”
Drucker said insurers should reconsider how they assess the effectiveness of drugs, suggesting they consider benefits “across a wide range of very serious diseases.”
“Insurance companies have historically required at least 5% weight loss after three to four months of treatment in order to continue covering GLP-1 treatment,” said Dr. Jody Dushay.
“With new information about metabolic benefits beyond weight loss, this will certainly need to be reconsidered.”
