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NEW YORK (CBSNew York) – The Food and drug administration just approved the first new weightloss drug for years, which is good news in the American Battle of the Bulge.
We’ve heard this before, a drug that helps people lose weight, to be disappointed. However, as CBS2’s Dr Max Gomez reported on Wednesday, that could be the reality.
America has an even more widespread pandemic than COVID-19 – obesity. More than two-thirds of Americans are either obese or overweight, and it’s much more than a cosmetic problem.
“If you look at obese people, a lot of them have complications like diabetes or hypertension, sleep apnea. The vast majority of people have health issues related to their weight, and the thing about Wegovy is that we expect these complications to be treatable with weight loss, ”said Dr Louis Aronne de Weill- Cornell Medicine.
READ MORE: Fearful of COVID-19, many with obesity turn to bariatric surgery to aid weight loss
And now there is a new weapon in the fight against obesity and its related diseases. Wegovy has been approved for people who are obese (body mass index of 30 or more) or overweight (BMI of 27 or more) with at least one weight-related medical problem. This translates to a weight of around 50 pounds or more above the ideal weight.
Aronne, an obesity researcher, studied the long-term effects of Wegovy. He says this drug is different from previous weight loss drugs.
“The safety is really better than the drugs we had before, and finally, with these long-term safety studies, we see that the weight is lost and maintained over a longer period of time,” said Aronne.
READ MORE: A pediatrician gives advice to fight childhood obesity
In a 16-month study, patients taking Wegovy lost an average of 17% of their body weight. Side effects included diarrhea and nausea, which usually resolved when the dose was slowly increased.
Patients who stopped taking the drug recovered more than half of their weight loss.
Lisa Robillard lost 63 pounds with the drugs.
“I wasn’t hungry between meals, which was just unheard of for me,” said Robillard.
Wegovy has been approved for long term use. It is a once-weekly injectable version of the diabetes drug Ozempic. Both work by governing the secretion of two hormones that modulate blood sugar.
Wegovy’s cost is expected to be around $ 1,300 per month at retail. Insurance coverage remains to be seen, but similar drugs have been covered.
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