What Parents Should Know About Semaglutide: A Promising Weight Loss Option for Teens

The drug Semaglutide (Wegovy) for diabetes has been approved by the FDA for weight loss in teenagers and for treating obesity in children. This is good news for parents and health care providers, which was released after a study discovered the weight loss drug can help the teems in substantially decreasing the BMI. This drug acts by suppressing the appetite, which leads to decreased intake of calories and results in weight loss.

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has given the green signal to the diabetes medicine for treating obesity in adolescents. ⁽¹⁾ A study discovered that the type 2 diabetes drug semaglutide is equally effective in obese teenagers as it is in obese adults. This drug is administered via injection once a week and the brand names of this are the famous Ozempic and Wegovy. Wegovy has been approved in treating children as young as 12.

The FDA has given its approval after a major study discovered the benefits of this drug in teenagers.

The study published in The New England Journal of Medicine in December revealed that overweight or obese teenagers who took this drug and also followed lifestyle modifications had about 16% reduction in body mass index (BMI) in around 68 weeks. Wegovy also led to improvements in various cardiometabolic health issues. It is time for parents and doctors to rejoice.

Semaglutide is a glucagon-like peptide-1 analogue and is right now only approved for use in adults suffering from obesity or health conditions related to obesity. ^{(2, 4)} This drug acts by suppressing the appetite, which in turn decreases the calorie intake and causes weight loss.

According to the research, the recent findings throw a light on new promising treatment option for obese adolescents, especially at a time where childhood obesity rates are increasing. ⁽³⁾ It was discovered that Semaglutide worked much better than other drugs for weight loss. It the study, the effectiveness of semaglutide was compared to a placebo in 201 adolescents having obesity between the ages of 12 and 17. In this study about 134 of the participants were given 2.4 milligrams of semaglutide via the subcutaneous route once a week and adhered to lifestyle interventions for 68 weeks. Among the total participants, 67 received a placebo and adhered to lifestyle interventions for 68 weeks.

After the duration of treatment, the experts tracked the health of the participants for extra seven weeks and it was discovered that participants who took semaglutide had about 16.1% reduction in BMI when compared to their previous baseline BMI. The participants who were given the placebo had very mild increase in BMI. Other than this, about 73% of participants who were given semaglutide lost a minimum of 5% of their body weight when compared to 18% of the participants who took the placebo.

There were also seen improvements in different cardiometabolic risk factors, including cholesterol, lipids, triglycerides, glycated haemoglobin levels and waist circumference. Participants who took semaglutide also had weight loss along with better quality of life. According to the experts, the benefits of semaglutide were significantly greater when compared to other weight-loss drugs that were approved for teenagers with obesity.

Just like adults, the common adverse effects of semaglutide in teens were gastrointestinal problems; however, the symptoms were short-lived and mild.

The present guidelines for youngsters with obesity is adopting various lifestyle interventions; however, research has found that it becomes very difficult to get long-term weight loss results with only lifestyle changes after the obesity has developed. If young people are not able to achieve their goals of weight loss by lifestyle interventions, then help is there for them in the form of pharmaceutical medications with albeit limited options.

The American FDA had already approved three weight loss drugs for teens with obesity consisting of orlistat, liraglutide and phentermine-topiramate.

They say that the results are promising; however, they should be cautiously interpreted as the study was not done in an ethnically diverse population and the drug was also not completely tested in teenagers with type 2 diabetes. More studies are needed in groups also, but there is hope for adolescents who are obese and are struggling with weight loss. This news has put everyone one step closer to addressing the epidemic of obesity. However, like mentioned before there are more studies needed to better understand the side effects and the effectiveness of the drug in various ethnic groups. Further studies will allow one to understand this drug more and create better formulation of next-generation medications.

A type-2 diabetes drug was approved by the FDA for treating obesity in adolescents as young as the age 12. ⁽⁵⁾ This news was revealed a week after a recent study discovered that semaglutide, a type 2 diabetes and obesity drug, is equally effective in teens with obesity as it is in adults with obesity. These new findings have thrown light on promising new treatment options for teenagers suffering from obesity.

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