March 30, 2023 – Within 5 years of stopping the weight loss drug Wegovy, most people will regain all of the weight they lost, and some people may add even more pounds, a senior official from drugmaker Novo Nordisk said at a conference Wednesday.
Regaining 50% of lost pounds is also likely within 2 or 3 years of stopping the injectable medication, which contains a drug called semaglutide, the official reported.
That rate of regain is somewhat slower than the rate found by a 2022 study funded by the company, which showed semaglutide-based weight loss resulted in regaining two-thirds of lost weight within a year.
“I think this is what we see when people go on diets or different exercise regimens, similar to when they go on a pharmacological treatment,” Karin Conde-Knape, PhD, Novo Nordisk's senior vice president of global drug discovery, said during a CNBC virtual conference about the future of health care. “As long as you're keeping your intake the same, your output the same, you're able to control your weight. But if you go out of this, you will immediately start to come back.”
Novo Nordisk makes two semaglutide injections: Wegovy and Ozempic. Ozempic is approved to treat Type 2 diabetes. Wegovy is approved for weight loss and contains a higher dose of semaglutide. Both have been shown to result in significant weight loss. The 2022 study showed the average person lost 17% of their body weight while taking the drug for nearly 6 years.
Semaglutide mimics a hormone called glucagon-like peptide-1 (GLP-1), which helps the brain regulate appetite and food intake. It can also influence the types of foods someone craves. Conde-Knape told conference attendees that the medication doesn't change a person's neural networks, which is why weight loss may not be permanent.
