Should You Take A Weight Loss Drug? - Latest What Your GP Doesn't Tell You Podcast
Dr Barbara Mintzes and Dr Joel Lexchin discuss the risks and benefits of the new generation of weight loss drugs
The latest episode of the What Your GP Doesn’t Tell You Podcast - Should You Take A Weight Loss Drug? is now available on Apple, Spotify and other podcast platforms. And you can sign up to the podcast mailing list at What Your GP Doesn't Tell You, where you can also find out more about the pod. The next episode of the podcast will go out on Tuesday 5th March.
This week I am talking to Dr Joel Lexchin and Dr Barbara Mintzes about the latest class of weight loss drugs - the glucagon-like peptide 1 agonists or GLP-1 for short. These medications work by stimulating cells in your intestines to release a natural hormone called GLP-1 that tricks your stomach and your brain into thinking you’ve just eaten a large meal. Given the levels of obesity across the world, the potential market for these drugs is enormous, as Lexchin explains:
In December 2023, Lexchin and Mintzes published a review article about one of these new weight drug loss medications called Wegovy (generic name semaglutide) in the Drug and Therapeutics Bulletin. Mintzes discusses what the trial results revealed:
Exactly what side effects Wegovy may produce is not yet clear, as this is still a very new drug, however adverse events such as vomiting, diarrhoea and pancreatitis have been noted. And currently the European drug regulator, the EMA, is investigating around 150 reports on the risks of thoughts of suicide and self-harm associated with GLP1 medicine in general.
One of the benefits of Wegovy that has been widely reported is that it may be able to reduce the risk of heart attack and stroke. But as Lexchin discusses in this clip, how these trial figures are interpreted and reported, can give very different impressions about the impact that the drug is likely to have on cardiovascular disease.
A key issue that Lexchin and Mintzes explore in their review paper is the conflicts of interest that can arise when patient groups, medical associations and other societies receive funding and support from a drug’s manufacturer. In the case of Wegovy, Mintzes highlights how the UK Association for Obesity who gave expert testimony to the UK’s National Institute of Clinical Excellence (NICE) recommending the funding of the drug, received £100,000 from Wegovy’s manufacturer Novo Nordisk.
You can hear the full discussion with Dr Joel Lexchin and Dr Barbara Mintzes on the podcast.
Dr Joel Lexchin is a Professor Emeritus in the School of Health Policy and Management at York University and an Associate Professor in the Department of Family and Community Medicine at the University of Toronto.
Dr Barbara Mintzes is an associate professor at the school of pharmacy at the faculty of medicine and health at the Charles Perkins Centre of the university of Sydney.
You can find out more about the podcast at What Your GP Doesn't Tell You and follow me on Twitter @lizctucker.
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