The GLP-1 Drugs — More Questions and Issues

As mentioned in a previous post, there are a lot of things nobody knows very much about. The GLP-1 drugs have been around for a while, although mainly as a diabetes treatment. As weight-loss drugs, however, they are relatively new and untried. Just as with any discovery that comes down the road, questions arise.

Which patients could or will be harmed? Which sufferers will receive the most benefit? How much will they pay? How much would they be willing to pay if they had a lot more money to start with? Where will the funds come from instead? How about the pharmacology? What other drugs does this new thing clash with, causing iatrogenic disaster and/or scandal? Can the team that wrote a particular paper continue to do meaningful work in this area?

Bloomberg journalist Lisa Jarvis raised several questions, such as:

Why do some people on GLP-1s […] experience a total body transformation, while others lose only modest amounts of weight — or nothing at all?

Is there a way to figure out who needs these drugs to avoid a heart attack or diabetes, and who is perfectly healthy in their larger body?

Is constant therapy sustainable — or even required?

Jarvis states, “Some 44% of people taking Wegovy report nausea, and nearly a third experienced diarrhea.” People know this is going on but give it a chance anyway, and a very large number of them seem to stay with it despite the discomfort. The sickness seems to be a feature, not a bug. If that’s what is required, people seem willing to put up with it.

Time out?

Apparently, huge numbers of users want to know if they may self-prescribe a break from their medication regime. The professional consensus on that is, “No.” Resistance understandably crops up a lot, around holiday times. Reportedly, someone who stops their meds abruptly will become ravenously hungry, and prone to eat an enormous amount of barbecued ribs and hot fudge sundaes.

If somebody does take a break, the next big question seems to be whether they should pick up again with the dosage they previously used, or whether they need to fall back to a smaller dose and then crank it up again. Journalist Ross Wollen wrote,

It takes the body some time to adjust to these potent medications, and those infamous gastrointestinal side effects tend to be at their very worst in the first few days of a new higher dose. With longer pauses, the worry is that your body might lose some of the tolerance that originally allowed you to step up your dosage.

Starting over with the high dose that was typical before the break “could be more than your body is ready to handle, resulting in extremely uncomfortable side effects.” Medical professionals prefer to stay on the side of caution, recommending a wary approach before ramping up. Apparently this is not yet verified by published studies — but it is the tactic preferred by doctors, who definitely want to be consulted, rather than see patients improvise their own unauthorized medication calendars.

Patients who go rogue with their dosage schedules might meet with surprises. They may not be aware that it takes at least a week for the last dose to clear their system. If someone wants to devour a big meal on a certain day, careful planning is needed. Even then, the mere ability to chew and swallow a large amount is no guarantee that the organs farther down the line will cooperate. What polite society calls “ugly gastrointestinal side effects” may occur.

Your responses and feedback are welcome!

Source: “Do You Really Have to Take Wegovy Forever?,” WashingtonPost.com, 10/19/23
Source: “Is It Okay to Skip an Ozempic Shot Now and Then?,” EverydayHealth.com, 11/15/23
Image by Camdiluv/Attribution-ShareAlike 2.0

With GLP-1 Drugs, There Will Be Questions — Continued

About the GLP-1 drugs, there are currently more questions than answers, and one of them is, are the most important questions even being asked?

New England Journal of Medicine produces a podcast called “Intention to Treat.” In one episode, host Rachel Gotbaum discusses with guests the prescribing of such pharmaceuticals to children. Dr. Ali Ibrahim expresses concern about overprescription, especially when prices eventually go down and the genre becomes more affordable. Given that many doctors do not have special expertise in nutrition or exercise physiology, “[…] it is very easy for someone who’s not trained in these two things to quickly jump to the medications.”

This, he feels, is probably not the best course for the patient, because “lifestyle should always be at the center… We need to create a tailored plan for every single patient.” Dr. Ibrahim also has a specific concern about general quality of life, and a reluctance to contribute to mental health problems like feelings of deprivation and pointlessness. For most patients, “having a meal is the best part of their day. This is what keeps them going. And now I’m putting them on a medication that is making that less enjoyable. And I do not want to take that away from them.”

Speaking of teens who have lost a lot of weight due to bariatric surgery, Dr. Tamara Hannon mentions a factor “that is quite worrisome… and that’s the use of other substances — alcoholism, substance abuse kind of replacing food, in a way.”

Notorious teens

Not too long ago, in the autumn of 2022, a pharmaceutical company astonished an Obesity Week conference audience by describing “a promising anti-obesity medication in teenagers, a group that is notoriously resistant to such treatment”:

The results astonished researchers: a weekly injection for almost 16 months, along with some lifestyle changes, reduced body weight by at least 20% in more than one-third of the participants.

Results like this shed new light on the question of whether obesity is a disease — that is, a condition that at least some people have no power over, and unquestionably need medical help to fix. And here is some bad news: “[E]vidence is growing that most people’s bodies have a natural size that can be hard to change.” This is a shocker. Remember the dreaded Set Point Theory?

One big question facing researchers now is whether people will need to take these medications for life to maintain their weight. A subset of clinical-trial participants who ceased taking semaglutide and stopped the study’s lifestyle interventions regained about two-thirds of their lost weight after one year.

The future

Something that may or may not turn out to work is a drug called 2,4-dinitrophenol, or DNP. As a weight-loss aid, it is described as highly effective but potentially deadly. It makes use of a process called mitochondrial uncoupling, which HU6, a drug in development, might be able to accomplish without causing the user to overheat.

It is said to bring about “fat-specific weight loss, preservation of muscle mass, reduction of liver and visceral fat, improved glycemic control and reductions in oxidative stress and inflammation.” A BioSpace.com article quotes Jayson Dallas, CEO of the company responsible:

HU6 increases resting energy consumption by about 30% at its highest dose, “and it does that 24/7… You’re essentially burning 30% more energy than you otherwise would, all day, and therefore you’re burning an extra 3600 to 4000 calories a week in the background.

That sounds kind of like being cooked from the inside. The executive recognizes the possible shortcomings and the danger it would present:

The more you shock your body, the more it goes into panic mode, and when you’re losing 30% of your body weight in 12 weeks, that’s a crisis metabolically.

HU6 reportedly helps patients lose three to four pounds per month with “no plateau,” which sounds pretty extreme, and of course could not be literally true, or the body would eventually just dissolve away into nothingness. But perhaps with the right amount of tinkering, this substance will find its heat problem solved, and leave all the GLP-1 drugs in the shade.

Your responses and feedback are welcome!

Source: “Treating Obesity in Kids — ITT Episode 31,” NEJM.org, 06/05/24
Source: “‘Breakthrough’ Obesity Drugs Are Effective but Raise Questions,” ScientificAmerican.com, 01/10/23
Source: “Beyond GLP-1s: The Next Obesity Treatments,” BioSpace.com, 07/08/24
Image by Mary/Attribution-ShareAlike 2.0 Generic

Feline Obesity Insights Can Help Humans

GLP-1 receptor agonists and what they can and cannot do took the spotlight on this blog for a while, so it’s been a minute since we’ve written about pet obesity. There’s a study that might be of interest to our readers (more on that below), and even a GLP-1 connection potential. Plus, the pets in this country are still fat and getting fatter, so this topic is not going away and is worth revisiting occasionally.

Fat cats can be useful in studying obesity in humans

Pet cats could serve as valuable animal models for studying the origins and treatments of obesity in humans, according to a new study on feline gut microbes. (The study was recently published in Scientific Reports.) Researchers believe that this research could benefit both cats and humans by improving overall health.

In the study, veterinary researchers analyzed fecal samples from obese cats as they underwent weight loss and maintenance through four dietary phases, including strict calorie reduction. They discovered that the changes in the cats’ gut microbiomes mirrored the dietary effects observed in humans’ gut bacteria. While there is still much to learn, the findings suggest that pet cats could provide significant insights into human gut bacteria and the potential for microbe-based therapies to combat obesity.

Lead author Jenessa Winston, assistant professor of veterinary clinical sciences at The Ohio State University, where the study was conducted, said:

Pets share our environment and even our food, making them naturally occurring disease models with similar exposures to humans… Observing changes in cats related to obesity and type 2 diabetes in humans positions them as excellent models for exploring microbiome-directed obesity treatments… Microbes identified in this study are also common in human studies, despite the dietary differences.

“When the cats were on the weight-loss diet, propionic acid levels rose and remained high, then dropped when they returned to their maintenance diet, indicating a dietary effect,” Winston explained. “This study shows that calorie restriction in obese cats can alter their microbial ecosystem, likely correlating with metabolic outcomes.”

The exact role of the gut microbiome in mammalian obesity remains unclear, but decades of research suggest these organisms and their products are crucial in this complex disease. Findings from feline studies could provide valuable insights for both cats and humans, Winston concluded.

GLP-1 supplements might be coming for your pets

As GLP-1 drugs remain a hot topic, the conversation has now extended to pets. Better Choice has teamed up with Aimia Pet Health to develop a GLP-1 supplement for overweight pets under the Halo brand.

This new initiative aims to address the significant issue of pet obesity, which affects nearly half of the world’s dogs and cats, leading to health complications similar to those seen in humans, such as diabetes, arthritis, and high blood pressure.

The brand states,

Our research and development goal is to replicate the weight loss benefits of leading human brands like Slentrol, Wegovy, Ozempic, and Monjaro, while incorporating protein and nutrients from our Halo products to support lean muscle and overall pet health.

Is it a potentially promising development in the pet healthcare industry, or wishful thinking and an expensive fad? Let’s keep an eye on it.

Your responses and feedback are welcome!

Source: “What fat cats on a diet may tell us about obesity in humans,” MedicalXPress, 7/17/24
Source: “Gut microbiota promoting propionic acid production accompanies caloric restriction-induced intentional weight loss in cats,” Nature.com, 5/24/24
Source: “Animal-Focused GLP-1 Supplements,” TrendHunter.com, 7/25/24
Image by charlesdeluvio on Unsplash

With GLP-1 Drugs, There Will Be Questions

As mentioned in a previous post, there are a lot of things about which nobody knows very much. The GLP-1 drugs have been around for a while, although mainly as a diabetes treatment. As weight-loss aids, however, they are relatively new and untried. When any discovery comes along, questions arise.

Which patients will or could be harmed? Which sufferers will receive the most benefit? Scientific American said,

Another unknown is who will respond to these drugs — and who won’t. It’s too early to tell now, but the drugs seem to be less effective for weight loss in people with type 2 diabetes than in those without. Conditions such as fatty liver disease and having fat around the organs, known as visceral body fat, might also affect how people respond to different drugs…

How much will the patients pay? How much would they be willing to pay if they had a lot more money to start with? Where will the funds come from instead? Can the team that wrote a particular paper continue to do meaningful work in this area? How about the pharmacology? What other drugs does this new thing clash with, causing an iatrogenic disaster?

Bloomberg journalist Lisa Jarvis raised several questions, such as:

[…] Why do some people on GLP-1s […] experience a total body transformation, while others lose only modest amounts of weight — or nothing at all?

[…] Is there a way to figure out who needs these drugs to avoid a heart attack or diabetes, and who is perfectly healthy in their larger body?

[…] Is constant therapy sustainable — or even required?

Jarvis states, “Some 44% of people taking Wegovy report nausea, and nearly a third experienced diarrhea.” People know this going in, and give it a chance anyway, and a very large number of them seem to stick with it despite the discomfort. The sickness seems to be a feature, not a bug. If that is what it takes to stop people from overeating, they seem willing to put up with it. But is it a life sentence? Or at least, will the necessity for periodic injections segue into discovery of how to make wider and more efficient use of alternate routes?

Time out?

Apparently, huge numbers of users want to know if they may self-prescribe a break from their medication regime. (The professional consensus on that is, “No.” But a certain number will do it anyway.) Resistance understandably crops up a lot, around holiday times. And reportedly, someone who stops their meds abruptly will become ravenously hungry, and prone to eat an enormous amount of barbecued ribs and hot fudge sundaes.

If a user does take a break, the next big issue seems to be whether they should pick up again with the dosage they previously used, or whether they need to fall back to a smaller dose and then crank it up again. Journalist Ross Woolen wrote,

It takes the body some time to adjust to these potent medications, and those infamous gastrointestinal side effects tend to be at their very worst in the first few days of a new higher dose. With longer pauses, the worry is that your body might lose some of the tolerance that originally allowed you to step up your dosage.

Starting over with the high dose that was typical before the break “could be more than your body is ready to handle, resulting in extremely uncomfortable side effects.” Medical professionals prefer to play it conservatively, recommending a cautious approach before escalating. This is not yet backed up by published studies apparently, but is the tactic preferred by doctors, who definitely prefer to be consulted rather than see patients tailoring their own medication schedules.

Patients who invent unauthorized dosage schedules might encounter surprises. They may not be aware that it takes at least a week for the last dose to clear their system. If someone wants to devour a big meal on a certain day, careful planning is needed. Even though they might have an enormous appetite, the mere ability to chew and swallow a large amount is no guarantee that the organs farther down the line will cooperate. There may still be “ugly gastrointestinal side effects.”

Your responses and feedback are welcome!

Source: “‘Breakthrough’ Obesity Drugs Are Effective but Raise Questions,” ScientificAmerican.com. 01/10/23
Source: “Do You Really Have to Take Wegovy Forever?,” WashingtonPost.com, 10/19/23
Source: “Is It Okay to Skip an Ozempic Shot Now and Then?,” EverydayHealth.com, 11/15/23
Image by Holly Lay/Attribution 2.0 Generic

The GLP-1 Meds vs. Muscle, Continued

The loss of muscle mass that inevitably accompanies fat loss is a hazard to teens who are prescribed a GLP-1 drug, as we have seen. Not surprisingly, seniors are also at risk.

According to the governmental branch that keeps track of these things, a leading cause of death among that age group is falling, and falling may be caused by what? Exactly — the loss of muscle mass, which holds the bones together and enables them to either move or remain still, as the situation requires.

That is on the physical side, and on the psychological/emotional side, older patients who successfully lost weight might feel they have been given a second chance, a new lease on life. Such a person might be tempted to try a dangerous or downright foolish activity, without the muscular ability to carry it through successfully.

When Madison Muller’s piece was written last year, it included these words about a trial of semaglutide that included 140 participants: “On average, participants lost about 15 pounds of lean muscle and 23 pounds of fat during the 68-week trial.” The mean age of those patients, however, was 52, which is pretty young for this era of ever-aging populations, and so it might reasonably be expected that older patients would not even do that well.

Meanwhile, Eli Lilly is developing the very inelegantly-named bimagrumab, which holds some promise to be a muscle-mass preserver, to be used in combination with the company’s tirzepatide.

Cautious optimism only

When clinical researcher Dr. Donna H. Ryan wrote about next-generation anti-obesity medications, her Introduction implied that in general, the ones in development were not quite meeting expectations:

The goal of medically supervised weight loss has been modest, or at most, moderate, weight loss — principally because that is all that could be regularly achieved.

At the same time, she named two “interesting and unique” examples as “generating much interest.” Specifically, they are the GLP-1 dual agonist tirzepatide (weekly injection) and the “new agent with a unique mechanism of action,” bimagrumab, which not only eliminates fat mass but preserves and promotes the gain of lean mass.

Apparently, although only needed once a month, it must be administered intravenously in the hospital. Still, bimagrumab “gives the first evidence that we might succeed in targeting improved quality of weight loss for our patients.” In the “Conclusions” section of the piece, Dr. Ryan waxes poetic:

Of course, it would be better to live in a world where healthy eating and active living were the default behaviors and where those behaviors were reinforced in a world without undue emotional and financial stress. All of us need to work toward creating that world…

We are, however, not quite there yet. According to one report, although bimagrumab can increase muscle weight in mice and cultured myotubes, it has no demonstrable effect on increasing muscle strength:

On this background, a large controlled study was performed with 251 patients randomized to receiving monthly bimagrumab or placebo for 52 weeks. No change in the study’s primary end-point was noted compared to placebo; all enrolled patients continued to worsen with further deterioration in quantitative muscle strength testing, with more falls, and worsening swallowing.

The Canadian company 35Pharma developed a molecule called HS235 which sounds very promising. Last October, they announced that lab mice who only got tirzepatide “lost 46 percent of their fat mass.” The ones who received a tirzepatide and HS235 combo “lost 64 percent of their fat mass” without, apparently, losing any muscle mass.

Journalist Sumi Sukanya Dutta explained the importance of not losing too much weight, too fast:

Good muscle mass is vital for resting metabolic rate, which, simply put, means the ability of the body to burn calories even while resting… Less muscle is lost with less aggressive weight loss programmes.

Your responses and feedback are welcome!

Source: “Weight-loss drugs pose risks for people over 65, experts say,” BusinessMirror.com, 10/21/23
Source: “Next Generation Antiobesity Medications: Setmelanotide, Semaglutide, Tirzepatide and Bimagrumab: What do They Mean for Clinical Practice?,” NIH.gov, 09/30/21
Source: “Motor System Disorders, Part I: Normal Physiology and Function and Neuromuscular Disorders,” ScienceDirect.com, 2023
Source: “Move over semaglutide, new drug on the horizon promises to melt only fat, not muscle,” ThePrint.in/health, 10/22/23
Image by GreenFlames09/ATTRIBUTION 2.0 GENERIC

The GLP-1 Meds vs. Muscle

Muscle mass is a large and rather frightening issue, overall. As previously mentioned, any legitimate weight-loss regime must aim to shed the greatest possible amount of fat, while retaining the largest possible amount of muscle, because a healthy balance of the two is paramount — and as it turns out, very difficult to achieve.

The whole point of these meds is to help the patient eat less, which in itself could be a problem if it leads to an insufficient intake of protein. To maintain and build muscle, several macronutrients from other sources are also important:

Alongside resistance training, research suggests consuming 1.4–2 grams (g) of protein for each kilogram of body weight per day to maximize muscle building. However, it’s important to consume a well-balanced diet that includes healthy carbohydrates and fats.

The Healthline article quoted above, like many similar guides, goes on to recommend a plethora of excellent protein sources.

The necessary

On the most practical level, long-term weight loss is almost impossible to maintain unless dietary caution is accompanied by plenty of exercise for the muscles. In addition, the older a person becomes, the more the body must struggle to maintain muscle while shedding fat. Some doctors who prescribe the GLP-1 meds have become alarmed by the disproportionate loss of muscle mass in their older patients.

In any case, it is unwise to measure only overall weight loss, without distinguishing between fat and muscle — which is the strongest objection to the near-universal use of Body Mass Index as the official measurement tool.

Among other outcomes, this ongoing source of unease within the community has led to the creation of a new category, of which plenty of people are members:

In simple terms, ‘skinny fat’ refers to someone who looks fit and healthy from the outside, but who is actually carrying excess visceral fat internally… But the reality is that this hidden belly fat can lead to some serious health problems.

The medical term for this is Metabolically Obese Normal Weight (MONW).

“Intention to Treat” is a podcast produced by the New England Journal of Medicine, hosted by Rachel Gotbaum, and one of this summer’s episodes discussed the recent approval of GLP-1 drugs for children. Guest Dr. Ali Ibrahim first establishes that with or without medication, any kind of slimming endeavor will inevitably involve the loss of not only fat tissue, but lean muscle mass as well.

That loss cannot be eliminated, but it can be limited, maybe… probably… eventually. This is especially important when the patient is a child or teen, because “we’re putting them through a catabolic state, a state of breakdown, whether it’s adipose-tissue breakdown, whether it’s lean-muscle breakdown…”

Dr. Ibrahim is one of many who ask some version of the question, “What is going to happen to them in the future, especially if they continue being on this medication for decades?” He goes on to say,

These are chronic medications. They’re not meant for use for short-term use. Once we start them, for most people, they will have to continue on these medications for the rest of their lives.

Your responses and feedback are welcome!

Source: “26 Foods to Eat to Gain Muscle,” Healthline.com, 02/15/24
Source: “What is skinny fat? Causes, risks and how to fix it,” GoodTo.com, 07/20/22
Source: “Treating Obesity in Kids — ITT Episode 31,” NEJM.org, 06/05/24
Image by Aidan Jones/ATTRIBUTION-SHAREALIKE 2.0 GENERIC

GLP-1 Drugs and Celebrities

In the old days, meaning the late 60s and early 70s, adherents of the fat acceptance movement could be found at public protests, throwing diet books and pictures of Twiggy into bonfires, as if they were draft cards. Nowadays, Washington Post writer Shane O’Neill suggests, the National Association to Advance Fat Acceptance has mellowed into a group that aspires to influence legislation and end discrimination. Other people with similar feelings have gravitated to the more ambitious and militant Body Positivity movement.

For instance, when activist Virgie Tovar received partnership offers from various weight-loss companies, she notified her Instagram followers, “I don’t want Ozempic.” Tovar is not alone in that sentiment. Many people feel that too many body-positive and fat-positive influencers have transmogrified into advocates for weight loss. Their followers feel betrayed.

The reporter describes the internet talk show, “It’s Bigger Than Me,” produced by pharmaceutical giant Novo Nordisk. Of course, the drug company has a justification:

We are not here to denounce body positivity or detract in any way from the strides we, as a community, have made in inclusivity. The reality is that two truths exist — obesity can impact health, but the discrimination, stigma and shame experienced by people living with obesity for their weight is also very real.

Meanwhile, if there is one thing the average American loves more than weight loss, that other thing is celebrity worship. A shocking number of average folk want — nay, demand — to know which famous people are using the trendy GLP-1 drugs, for how long, and why, or why not.

And how many pounds they have lost, and how often they throw up, or stay home because they are afraid they will throw up. It has also been open season on celebrities who say the wrong thing about other celebrities’ weight-loss drug use, whether they express criticism or approbation — and out there in the zeitgeist, there is no shortage of either.

Men are more rarely heard from

In the spring of last year, Mark Wahlberg put his feelings on the record. The actor is known for his strict fitness regime which includes rising at 2:30 AM for the first of several daily workout sessions. Wahlberg, of course, is not a normal person, having gained and lost large amounts of weight for film roles. He does it all with exercise and correct eating, saying, “You’d be surprised what you can accomplish when you’re willing to do the work.” He does not judge others harshly, but would definitely prefer them to choose the “good old-fashioned way.”

In the recent past, Wonderwall.com has contacted show biz professionals and recorded their Ozempic experiences. Sharon Osbourne reported taking an unnamed weight-loss drug for four months, feeling nauseated through most of it, and losing 30 pounds. Then in September, she appeared on a talk show and confessed “I didn’t want to go this thin” — which, apparently, was under 100 pounds.

Actor and “internet personality” Samantha Jo took Mounjaro, and described how peaceful her inner life had become since the “food noise” quieted down, and she understood for the first time what it was like to be a normal person not constantly besieged by thoughts of eating. Jo also told the public that all the positive attention she had attracted was not always comfortable, although her audience had increased and more advertisers sought her out.

There were resentful thoughts, like, “I wasn’t good enough for you then. And the only thing that has changed about me now is my weight… I don’t see how your weight should indicate how you’re treated or if you’re worthy of respect.”

Writer and editor Samhita Mukhopadhyay stopped using Mounjaro because of the expense, but also has philosophical objections. Namely, prying into the lives of celebrities as if we had the right, is just a “weird witch hunt, and all these discussions only prove how determined humans are to invent “more tools to judge each other with.”

Your responses and feedback are welcome!

Source: “New marketing push by Ozempic and others sparks body-positive backlash,” WashingtonPost.com, 02/14/24
Source: “Mark Wahlberg Is Not A Fan Of The Ozempic Weight Loss Fad,” Yahoo.com, 05/04/23
Source: “Stars Who Have Admitted,” Wonderwall.com 09/22/23
Source: “Rocker’s Famous Wife.,” Wonderwall.com 05/08/23
Source: “Food is one of life’s great pleasures. Will weight-loss drugs end that?,” WashingtonPost.com, 10/02/23
Source: “‘You look great! Ozempic?’ The new minefields of weight-loss etiquette.,” WashingtonPost.com, 06/25/24
Image by Hollywood Branded/ATTRIBUTION 2.0 GENERIC

More Interesting Things About GLP-1 Receptor Agonists

For DiabetesJournals.org, Deborah Hinnen wrote, “Proper patient selection and education can assist in achieving positive treatment outcomes.” The writer is talking about the utility of the GLP-1 drugs in treating diabetes, but the same can be said of their use to fight obesity. Patient selection implies that some people, even if they could greatly benefit from any particular treatment, are just not suited to it for other reasons.

Education is paramount in any case. We hope that the patient will take any words that come directly from the physician’s mouth as gospel, and strive to obey “doctor’s orders” to the best of their understanding and ability.

But during office visits, patients are often not at their psychological best. They are worried about how to rearrange their lives to accommodate the new demands made upon them and their families. They are concerned about expenses, and thinking ahead to the possibility that today’s prescription might not help at all, and there will be rough times in store.

Sometimes they have what we used to quaintly call a “mental block” against absorbing certain items of information. An adult patient will sometimes bring along a friend to pay attention and take notes. For a minor individual, of course, there is a good chance that a parent will be present — which is not guaranteed to be a solution, as the attention span and comprehension depth of a parent or guardian can never be taken for granted, either.

Reinforcements

In an office setting, no matter what the doctor says or forgets to say, in the best-case scenario other staff members will make every effort to assure that the instructions and warnings are understood. They will ask if the patient has any questions, or needs clarification about anything. They might hand out a printed information sheet, or directions to a helpful online resource. Of course, even then, there is no guarantee that the helpful information will be pursued or assimilated.

The “I” word

Of more immediate interest is a recent report with the word “injury” in its title: “Acute Kidney and Liver Injury Associated With Low-Dose Liraglutide in an Obese Adolescent Patient.” This paper originates with four members of the Faculty of Medicine at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. The complete work is accessible for a fee.

The brief summary version begins by recalling that liraglutide was approved in 2020 for people aged 12 through 18, as an adjunctive therapy for weight management “in combination with a reduced-calorie diet and increased physical activity.” It goes on to say,

Although reports in adults have suggested a link between liraglutide and adverse effects including hepatic injury and acute kidney injury (AKI), these effects have not previously been reported among adolescents treated with liraglutide for weight loss.

The cause for alarm was the experience of a 17-year-old boy afflicted with class III obesity, which is the more recent enlightened term for what used to be called morbid obesity. He had been using liraglutide (at its lowest recommended dose) for three months, and consequently experienced not only significant appetite loss, and weight loss, but a sensation of melancholy. By the standard of the Adverse Drug Reaction Probability Scale, it seemed clear that the liraglutide was also responsible for the injury to his liver and kidneys.

After being off the medication for a month, his kidney issue had settled down and his liver enzymes had reverted to normal, and there was an improvement in his mood. The authors note,

Our report highlights the importance of vigilance in monitoring for these potential adverse effects among adolescents treated for obesity with any dose of liraglutide.

Liraglutide had been approved in 2010 as antidiabetic therapy for adults. A document from that year states that some rodent study results were troubling, but there was no firm evidence of adverse effects on humans. Reports of several different conditions, like pancreatitis, appeared here and there, but in very small numbers, and the evidence to connect the cases with the drug was just not there.

Your responses and feedback are welcome!

Source: “Glucagon-Like Peptide 1 Receptor Agonists for Type 2 Diabetes,” DiabetesJournals.org, 2017
Source: “Acute Kidney and Liver Injury Associated With Low-Dose Liraglutide in an Obese Adolescent Patient,” AAP.org, 06/12/24
Source: “Weighing Risks and Benefits of Liraglutide — The FDA’s Review of a New Antidiabetic Therapy,” NEJM.org, 03/04/10
Image by the healthy blog/Public Domain

Unlocking the Potential of GLP-1 Agonists Beyond Diabetes and Weight Loss

Initially developed for diabetes treatment, GLP-1 agonists have gained significant attention for their weight-loss benefits. The success of GLP-1 medications like Ozempic, Wegovy, Mounjaro, and Zepbound has spurred a wave of research exploring their potential beyond diabetes and weight loss.

Discovering secondary uses for GLP-1s

The headlines are coming at us fast and hard. Just in recent weeks, we’ve read that the GLP-1 agonists may help reduce sleep apnea, reduce pancreatitis risk in obese and diabetic patients, reduce rheumatoid arthritis symptoms, and potentially even boost fertility.

In other words, these medications are changing consumer habits and industry dynamics, and people just can’t get enough of them. While the pharmaceutical industry is eagerly investigating new applications for GLP-1 drugs, some think that the real opportunity lies in precision medicine. This approach promises to open numerous commercial pathways and significantly advance personalized patient care.

Why precision medicine?

Elliott Green, the co-founder and CEO of Dandelion Health, which collects and processes clinical data for the healthcare industry, is one of the believers. In a recent article he penned for Fast Company, he opined that, as the COVID-19 pandemic taught us, rapid innovation is crucial for saving and improving lives on a large scale. However, traditional clinical trials, while scientifically rigorous, are not designed for speed and cost-effectiveness.

In Green’s opinion, the challenge is accelerating precision medicine for GLP-1 drugs by applying lessons from the pandemic to achieve near-term, data-driven insights that lead to personalized treatments and care.

Learning from oncology

It’s complicated though. Green writes:

To understand just how “blackbox” GLP-1 drugs are today, one only needs to read or listen to the news. For example, early GLP-1 studies seem to appear daily, and they point to potential issues, such as unwanted side effects in some patients, like psychiatric issues, or opportunities — like GLP-1 agonists potentially being used to treat prostate cancer one day. The key word here? Potential.

With increasing access to data and advancements in AI, healthcare providers should be able to predict which patients will benefit most from specific weight loss drugs. Similarly, pharmaceutical companies should be able to identify new, effective uses for GLP-1 formulations. While progress is being made, it is not happening quickly enough to optimize patient outcomes or confirm new applications for these drugs.

Adopting a proactive approach from oncology, where precision medicine has had a significant impact, could be transformative. Oncologists select treatments based on the genetic profile of tumors. Similarly, GLP-1 drugs could be chosen based on a digital phenotype that predicts the best response with minimal side effects.

Addressing data gaps

The challenge in bringing precision medicine to GLP-1 drugs lies in the lack of real-world data. Although there is more real-world data (RWD) than ever before, much of it remains isolated and unreadable, locked in various systems within healthcare organizations.

RWD often comes from electronic health records (EHR), claims data, and disease-specific registries. However, the most valuable data — unstructured clinical data like waveforms (e.g., ECGs) and imaging data (e.g., MRIs, CT scans) — is typically outside the EHR. This data, which constitutes over 80% of healthcare data, holds immense potential for personalizing GLP-1 care and accelerating drug development. 

Leveraging AI for precision medicine

In Green’s words,

[W]e can take these broad generalizations and turn them into more precise hypotheses to be tested, like: demonstrating GLP-1’s therapeutic effects beyond current uses, including secondary benefits derived from exploratory use or demonstrated with additional data modalities; and developing precision-medicine tools to identify patients with uncontrolled symptoms or to match patients to the right treatment plans.

The bottom line

To advance personalized weight loss treatments, there must be stronger integration of both structured and unstructured health data, and a robust approach to vetting AI algorithms trained on rich, unbiased datasets. This will provide the necessary insights for personalized patient care and help pharmaceutical companies quickly and cost-effectively explore new uses for GLP-1 drugs.

By embracing these strategies, we can drive a more personalized approach to weight loss and unlock new therapeutic potentials for GLP-1 drugs, benefiting patients and the healthcare industry alike.

Your responses and feedback are welcome!

Source: “How AI can power GLP-1’s next frontier in medicine,” Fast Company, 6/7/24
Source: “Ozempic and Wegovy May Help Reduce Rheumatoid Arthritis Symptoms,” Healthline, 6/27/24
Image by lightfieldstudios/123RF

Interesting Things About GLP-1 Receptor Agonists

Most of the research on these drugs, over the years, has been performed with an eye to their usefulness in treating Type 2 diabetes. The findings are also, obviously, pertinent to their effects when prescribed for weight loss in non-diabetic patients.

And of course, it is not their effects alone that matter, but what happens when those effects combine with whatever else the patient is already taking? The professional with a prescription pad must be meticulously conscientious in recording a patient’s history, lest something important and potentially threatening slip through the net.

Regarding the currently existing GLP-1 RA meds, there are a few widely recognized contraindications. Except for oral semaglutide, the others are administered by subcutaneous injection. Some concerns do or may apply to all drugs in this class; others are so far known to only be relevant to one of them. Fortunately, many of the potential problems mainly apply to conditions that are relatively quite rare.

A very detailed report originated in 2006 and has been revised 11 times since then, now stating (among other things):

All GLP-1 agonists have been found to cause c-cell tumors in rodent models, but the human relevance has not been determined. All agents except for [two] have a black box warning for risk of thyroid C-cell tumors,

GLP-1 agonists have not been studied in patients with gastroparesis, and all drugs within this class, except for liraglutide and semaglutide, recommend against use in patients with preexisting gastroparesis.

However, their rep is mostly positive:

There is no basis for limiting the duration of treatment for GLP-1 agonists in patients using this medication for chronic weight management if it remains beneficial for weight loss and is not causing intolerable side effects.

Here are some of the caveats and cautions applicable to either the whole class, or various individual drugs. All of them are, of course, contraindicated in patients who are hypersensitive to the particular substance. All should be warned that since the drugs increase the sensation of satiety, it is quite possible that continuing to eat past the point of feeling full can cause nausea and/or vomiting.

Individual drugs are warned against for patients with existing or incipient pancreatitis, gastroparesis or inflammatory bowel disorders, renal disease, or Multiple Endocrine Neoplasia syndrome type 2. Likewise, for those who have a family history of medullary thyroid cancer.

They probably should be avoided for patients who are on tricyclic antidepressants. It should be noted that the GLP-1 receptor agonists, which are therapeutic peptides, could potentially cause the development of drug antibodies.

Another article, titled “Glucagon-like Peptide-1 (GLP-1) Receptor Agonists,” offers a very thorough comparison of the various available meds of this type. For starters, their efficacy and safety “primarily differ by their frequency of administration.” They all delay gastric emptying and increase satiety, and “There is no significant [clinically meaningful] difference in weight loss effect among the agents in the class.”

Here are other details that could be very disappointing, because none of these things match up with what their various manufacturers would have us believe:

Semaglutide is the only GLP-1 receptor agonist that is available as a once-daily oral tablet. Unlike semaglutide injection, the evidence of CV benefit using the oral route has not been definitively established. Compared to placebo, all agents, except albiglutide, significantly reduced weight and increased the risk of hypoglycemia and GI side effects. There were no clinically meaningful differences in weight loss effects, blood pressure reduction, or hypoglycemia risk among the drugs.

Your responses and feedback are welcome!

Source: “Drug Use Criteria: Glucagon-Like Peptide 1 Receptor Agonists,” Texas.gov, October 2022
Source: “Compare and Contrast the Glucagon-Like Peptide-1 Receptor Agonists (GLP1RAs),” NIH.gov, 03/27/23
Source: “Glucagon-like Peptide-1 (GLP-1) Receptor Agonists,” Elsevier.health, 04/11/22
Image by Consumerist Dot Com/ATTRIBUTION 2.0 GENERIC

FAQs and Media Requests: Click here…

Profiles: Kids Struggling with Weight

Profiles: Kids Struggling with Obesity top bottom

The Book

OVERWEIGHT: What Kids Say explores the obesity problem from the often-overlooked perspective of children struggling with being overweight.

About Dr. Robert A. Pretlow

Dr. Robert A. Pretlow is a pediatrician and childhood obesity specialist. He has been researching and spreading awareness on the childhood obesity epidemic in the US for more than a decade.
You can contact Dr. Pretlow at:

Presentations

Dr. Pretlow’s invited presentation at the American Society of Animal Science 2020 Conference
What’s Causing Obesity in Companion Animals and What Can We Do About It

Dr. Pretlow’s invited presentation at the World Obesity Federation 2019 Conference:
Food/Eating Addiction and the Displacement Mechanism

Dr. Pretlow’s Multi-Center Clinical Trial Kick-off Speech 2018:
Obesity: Tackling the Root Cause

Dr. Pretlow’s 2017 Workshop on
Treatment of Obesity Using the Addiction Model

Dr. Pretlow’s invited presentation for
TEC and UNC 2016

Dr. Pretlow’s invited presentation at the 2015 Obesity Summit in London, UK.

Dr. Pretlow’s invited keynote at the 2014 European Childhood Obesity Group Congress in Salzburg, Austria.

Dr. Pretlow’s presentation at the 2013 European Congress on Obesity in Liverpool, UK.

Dr. Pretlow’s presentation at the 2011 International Conference on Childhood Obesity in Lisbon, Portugal.

Dr. Pretlow’s presentation at the 2010 Uniting Against Childhood Obesity Conference in Houston, TX.

Food & Health Resources