New Amazing Weight Loss Drugs are Coming

Hi, I’m Dr. Craig Primack from Scottsdale Weight Loss Center. Today, I’m going to talk to you about some new, amazing weight loss drugs that are coming.

Semaglutide

The first one we talked about a little bit a few weeks ago called semaglutide. Semaglutide is currently available at 1 mg for the treatment of diabetes, but a recent study came out from the New England Journal of Medicine showing that at 2.4 milligrams it is quite a robust drug. Semaglutide is a type of hormone called GLP-1. GLP-1 we already have, all of us. It’s half-life only lasts about two minutes, and in this new form the half-life actually lasts a week. And so instead of just lasting a very short period decreasing appetite, it lasts a much longer period. GLP-1 is released in the body as we absorb nutrients, especially sugars, and it is designed to stimulate insulin secretion as well as when it crosses the blood-brain barrier to make us less hungry.

Tirzepatide

The second medicine is tirzepatide. Tirzepatide is what we’re going to call a dual agonist. It has GLP-1 actions but it also has GIP actions. GIP is another gut hormone like GLP-1. It has many of the same actions as GLP-1. When food is given and absorbed, it also increases insulin and decreases appetite at the brain level. Both of these medicines will be very potent for weight loss and diabetes control when released.

To give you an example, Tirzepatide decreased hemoglobin A1C by 2.09%, and semaglutide at 1 mg, decreased it by 1.86%.

Both of them had weight loss. Tirzepatide at 7.8 kilos, which equals 17 pounds weight loss, and semaglutide, 6.2 kilograms or 14 pounds of weight loss in their original studies.

Currently, semaglutide is submitted to the FDA for 2.0 milligram dosing, I believe for diabetes treatment. And we saw just recently the results of 2.4 milligrams of semaglutide in weight loss. What we see with Tirzepatide is even more robust weight loss, but it has not been approved by the FDA yet. So over the last month or two we have had very good, promising drugs for the treatment of weight being released, at least the data soon to be coming out as weight loss medications for the treatment of overweight and obesity.

Obesity is a Disease

Remember, the disease of obesity is serious, it is chronic, and most important, it is treatable by medicines that are currently on the market and also medicines that are coming to the market most likely later this year and in the years to come.

Thank you for joining me today for a quick medical minute. If you have a moment, please subscribe to my channel and have a great rest of your week.

Thanks.