Recently, I was invited to attend a Wegovy dinner with a locally known Bariatric Surgeon, who presented on a new study finds of GLP1 and benefits. The article reflected on how GLP1 can reduce the risk of stroke, heart attacks and death from cardiovascular diseases amongst patients.
A study of 17,604 patients with overweight or obesity and a history of cardiovascular disease found that weekly semaglutide treatment reduced the risk of stroke, heart attack, or death from cardiovascular causes by 20%. This was the first time a medication or lifestyle therapy was shown to reduce cardiovascular events in this population.Â
As everyone applauded to the brilliance of this medication, inside I felt sad. Are we to now have our patients on this drug lifelong? What is the end game? There is none. You talk to any obesity specialist and we are taught the same thing. Forever. When I think of it, I feel the patient is just a cash cow. Really. no one studied how to successfully get the patient off the drug? Don't get me wrong, I agree with utilizing medications for many chronic illnesses but always the goal should be, how can we train our patients enough discipline and self-worth that they first get off the medications successfully and finally stay off them.