People who stop taking the weight-loss drugs Ozempic and Wegovy are likely to face serious health problems.
A new study found a majority of people who stopped taking semaglutide, the active ingredient in the blockbuster drugs, regained about two-thirds of the weight lost and had worsening health markers, including higher blood pressure and cholesterol and increased risk of heart disease.
Wegovy and Ozempic are known as GLP-1 receptor agonists and lead to weight loss by mimicking the actions of GLP-1, a hormone in the brain that regulates appetite and feelings of fullness.
Approximately 12 percent of US adults report having ever used a GLP-1 receptor agonist, while six percent indicated they were currently using the therapy.
Around 85 percent of people who had recently started medications like Ozempic discontinued use within two years, and 71 percent stopped within the first year, either because they had reached their goal weight or because the drugs are too expensive – with a price tag of approximately $1,000 monthly.
Since it exploded on the market, semaglutide has not only shown success in treating diabetes and obesity, but new research shows it also has great promise in lowering blood pressure and reducing people’s risk of a heart attack or stroke.
Now, a study by Northwestern University researchers reported, while it’s unclear how stopping GLP-1 RAs affects long-term heart health, findings suggest it may raise cardiovascular risk.
But, given the high rate of discontinuation and the poor side effects that follow, researchers said it is essential to study whether taking these drugs in the first place offers any lasting benefits and decreases people’s health risks, or if the downsides of stopping the drugs outweigh the benefits.
A national survey found that around 12 percent of Americans have used one of these drugs at one point while six percent are currently taking Ozempic or Wegovy
While the researchers behind the latest study did not say conclusively that patients will need to take these drugs forever to stay healthy, their findings indicate that people using GLP-1 RAs for weight management and cardiometabolic improvements may require long-term use to maintain the benefits.
Discontinuation was also linked to a similar return in patients’ levels of certain risk factors for cardio and metabolic health, which play a role in heart health and diabetes.
The researchers reported: ‘Nearly 30 percent of individuals discontinued semaglutide in the SELECT trial, with real-world estimates for GLP-1 RA discontinuation in the range of 50 to 75 percent at 12 months.
‘It is essential that clinicians and health systems identify and implement strategies that couple equitable initiation strategies with personalized support for the persistence of GLP-1 RAs. This requires understanding the underlying reasons for [GLP-1 receptor agonists] discontinuation.’
The report was published in JAMA.
Past research has found that, after 68 weeks of injections, the average patient lost more than 15 percent of their body weight.
However, within 12 months of treatment ending, around 300 patients regained about two-thirds of the weight they had lost.
A UK study found that people who used Wegovy experienced rapid weight loss, dropping 18% of their weight over 68 weeks. They regained two-thirds of that weight, or 12% of their original body weight in the year after dropping the weekly injections. Experts says the drug needs to be used over a lifetime to keep off the pounds
The researchers added doctors and patients should also discuss what might happen if the therapy is stopped.
Dr Domenica Rubino, director of the Washington Centre for Weight Management and Research, told the BBC: ‘Obesity is not like an infection where you take antibiotics and you’re done.
‘It’s not any different than hypertension or diabetes or the many other chronic illnesses that we deal with, where you have to use chronic medication’ such as statins for heart health.
While people who stop the drugs may experience undesirable outcomes, there have been numerous reports of dangerous side effects in people actively using semaglutide, like severe nausea and vomiting, suicidal thoughts and stomach paralysis.
The introduction of Ozempic, first approved by the FDA to manage diabetes, and its sister drug Wegovy, now approved for weight loss, marked a seismic shift in how doctors treat obesity.
The drugs have been shown to help people lose around five to 20 percent of their body weight. Already, the wide use of the drugs has influenced national obesity rates, which have fallen by nearly five percent in a year.
As many as five million Americans were prescribed semaglutide in 2023, and nearly four in 10 were taking it specifically for weight loss, not diabetes management.
Researchers concluded: ‘GLP-1 RA uptake is likely to continue to rapidly increase in the US as coverage indications expand. But the staggeringly high discontinuation rates of GLP-1 RAs should raise alarms for clinicians, policy makers, and public health experts.’