Afrigather In contrast to scores of people that scrambled for the blockbuster medicine Ozempic and Wegovy to drop pounds lately, Danielle Griffin had no bother getting them.
The 38-year-old data expertise employee from New Mexico had a prescription. Her pharmacy had the medicine in inventory. And her medical insurance coated all however $25 to $50 of the month-to-month price.
For Griffin, the toughest a part of utilizing the brand new medicine wasn’t entry. It was discovering out that the much-hyped drugs didn’t actually work for her.
“I’ve been on Wegovy for a yr and a half and have solely misplaced 13 kilos,” mentioned Griffin, who watches her food plan, drinks loads of water and workout routines often. “I’ve carried out all the things proper with no success. It’s discouraging.”
In medical trials, most individuals taking Wegovy or Mounjaro to deal with weight problems misplaced a mean of 15% to 22% of their physique weight — as much as 50 kilos or extra in lots of instances. However roughly 10% to fifteen% of sufferers in these trials had been “nonresponders” who misplaced lower than 5% of their physique weight.
Now that tens of millions of individuals have used the medicine, a number of weight problems consultants informed The Related Press that maybe 20% of sufferers — as many as 1 in 5 — might not reply properly to the drugs. It is a little-known consequence of the weight problems drug growth, in line with medical doctors who warning keen sufferers to not count on one-size-fits-all outcomes.
“It is all about explaining that totally different folks have totally different responses,” mentioned Dr. Fatima Cody Stanford, an weight problems skilled at Massachusetts Basic Hospital
The medicine are often known as GLP-1 receptor agonists as a result of they mimic a hormone within the physique often known as glucagon-like peptide 1. Genetics, hormones and variability in how the mind regulates vitality can all affect weight — and an individual’s response to the medicine, Stanford mentioned. Medical circumstances equivalent to sleep apnea can forestall weight reduction, as can sure frequent drugs, equivalent to antidepressants, steroids and contraceptives.
“It is a illness that stems from the mind,” mentioned Stanford. “The dysfunction might not be the identical” from affected person to affected person.
Regardless of such cautions, sufferers are sometimes upset after they begin getting the weekly injections however the numbers on the size barely budge.
“It may be devastating,” mentioned Dr. Katherine Saunders, an weight problems skilled at Weill Cornell Medication and co-founder of the weight problems remedy firm FlyteHealth. “With such excessive expectations, there’s a lot room for disappointment.”
That was the case for Griffin, who has battled weight problems since childhood and hoped to shed 70 kilos utilizing Wegovy. The drug helped scale back her urge for food and lowered her threat of diabetes, however she noticed little change in weight.
“It’s an emotional curler coaster,” she mentioned. “You need it to work prefer it does for everyone else.”
The drugs are sometimes prescribed together with consuming conduct and life-style modifications.
It’s normally clear inside weeks whether or not somebody will reply to the medicine, mentioned Dr. Jody Dushay, an endocrine specialist at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Heart. Weight reduction sometimes begins immediately and continues because the dosage will increase.
For some sufferers, that simply does not occur. For others, negative effects equivalent to nausea, vomiting and diarrhea power them to halt the drugs, Dushay mentioned. In such conditions, sufferers who had been relying on the brand new medicine to pare kilos might imagine they’re out of choices.
“I inform them: It isn’t recreation over,” Dushay mentioned.
Attempting a distinct model of the brand new class of medication might assist. Griffin, who did not reply properly to Wegovy, has began utilizing Zepbound, which targets a further hormone pathway within the physique. After three months of utilizing the drug, she has misplaced 7 kilos.
“I am hoping it is gradual and regular,” she mentioned.
Different folks reply properly to older medicine, the consultants mentioned. Altering food plan, train, sleep and stress habits also can have profound results. Determining what works sometimes requires a health care provider skilled to deal with weight problems, Saunders famous.
“Weight problems is such a posh illness that basically must be handled very comprehensively,” she mentioned. “If what we’re prescribing doesn’t work, we all the time have a backup plan.”
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The Related Press Well being and Science Division receives assist from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute’s Science and Academic Media Group. The AP is solely accountable for all content material.
