Researchers have clocked a rapid surge of young people receiving popular diabetes and weight loss drugs.
That spike “palpably feels like a massive increase,” says Joyce Lee, a pediatric endocrinologist at the University of Michigan Medical School in Ann Arbor. In comparison, the number of young people receiving other medications stayed relatively flat over the same period.
The drugs, GLP-1 receptor agonists, have gained a reputation in recent years for their drastic effect on weight — and other health benefits (SN: 12/13/23).
First approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration in 2005, GLP-1 drugs have continued to roll in. Ozempic, an injectable form of the drug semaglutide, was approved for adults with type 2 diabetes in 2017; liraglutide for weight loss in adults in 2014 and kids 12 and older in 2020; and Wegovy, high dose semaglutide, for weight loss in adults in 2021. A year later, Wegovy’s approval extended to kids.
2024-05-22 10:00:00
Original from www.sciencenews.org