The new GLP-1 analogue drugs represent an advance in the approach to obesity but, after they have been linked to the weight loss of some famous people, experts ask not to frivolize because they are not aesthetic products to lose those extra kilos.
Initially, these drugs were indicated to treat diabetes, but later clinical trials were carried out that also demonstrated their efficacy for obesity.
They are known as GLP-1 analogues because they mimic the effect of that hormone, which is made by the intestines and which, after eating food, is responsible for telling the brain: don't eat more.
The tycoon Elon Musk, at the head of companies such as SpaceX, Tesla or Twitter, confessed that he had lost weight in large part thanks to one of these drugs approved in the United States and Europe, Wegovy, and in recent months there has been speculation that they would have used drugs from the same family of Hollywood "celebrities" who have suddenly lost weight.
The results of clinical trials of Wegovy (brand name for semaglutide) have generated great expectations, as they have shown a weight loss capacity of around 15%, but everything must be put in context.
In this sense, the head of the Endocrinology and Nutrition service of the Hospital del Mar in Barcelona, Albert Goday, has warned of the risk of "frivolizing" a medication that he has stressed is subject to medical prescription and that it is specific for people suffering obesity, a "chronic, potentially serious and progressive" disease.
"That there are influential people who say that they inject it to lose weight - this is how Wegovy is administered - raises expectations and frivolizes about a disease like obesity, which is very serious," the specialist remarked in statements to Efe.
Goday has no doubt that this treatment will help alleviate the "obesity pandemic" in the world, but has stressed that it is an "aberration" to administer it outside the context of a treatment prescribed by a specialist only to "remove those extra kilos" that can be derived from periods of eating more, stress, menopause or other factors.
For the endocrine doctor, this is "frivolizing" a complex disease such as obesity, in which, in addition to lifestyle, metabolic factors, mental illnesses and significant social stigma come together, so "it is not a matter of little will, eat less or walk more", nor is it solved exclusively by injecting these new drugs.
SECOND LINE TREATMENT FOR OBESE PEOPLE
GLP-1 analogues are indicated for obese patients (body mass index greater than 30) or for some cases of overweight (25 to 30) with other complications, always as second-line treatment.
This means that it is prescribed as an alternative when the desired results are not achieved with the first treatment, which usually consists of providing psychological support to the patient, changing their eating habits and regulating physical activity.
"It is not the first drug that will be given to a diabetic or obese person, but it will be taken into account for later if the first strategies do not work", has clarified the pharmacist Joan Francesc Mir, responsible for the research area of the College of Pharmacists of Barcelona.
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SUPPLY PROBLEMS
Wegovy, developed by Danish pharmaceutical company Novo Nordisk, is licensed by the US and European drug agencies, but, like hundreds of other drugs, suffers from supply problems.
Mir has indicated that at this time it is difficult to have the product in Spain, which requires a medical prescription and is not financed by the National Health System, waiting for the pharmaceutical company to increase production to adjust it to demand not only for diabetes, but also for obesity. EFE