However, recent data has suggested that “around half of people discontinue these medications within a year”, she told a press conference.
This might be because of common side effects such as nausea or the price – these drugs can cost over US$1000 ($1700) a month in the United States.
The researchers reviewed 37 studies looking at ceasing different weight-loss drugs, finding that participants regained around 0.4kg a month.
Six of the clinical trials involved semaglutide – the ingredient used in Novo Nordisk’s brands Ozempic and Wegovy – and tirzepatide used for Eli Lilly’s Mounjaro and Zepbound.
While taking these two drugs, the trial participants lost an average of nearly 15kg.
However, after stopping the medication, they regained 10kg within a year, which was the longest follow-up period available for these relatively new drugs.
The researchers projected that the participants would return to their original weight in 18 months.
Measurements of heart health, including blood pressure and cholesterol levels, also returned to their original levels after 1.4 years.
People who were instead put on programmes that included diet and exercise – but not drugs – lost significantly less weight. However, it took an average of four years for them to regain their lost kilos.
This meant that people taking the drugs regained their weight four times faster.
‘Starting point, not a cure’
“Greater weight loss tends to result in faster weight regain,” lead study author Sam West of Oxford University explained.
But separate analysis showed that weight gain was “consistently faster after medication, regardless of the amount of weight lost in the first place”, he added.
This could be because people who have learned to eat more healthily and exercise more often continue to do so even as they regain weight.
Jebb emphasised that GLP-1 drugs “are a really valuable tool in obesity treatment – but obesity is a chronic relapsing condition”.
“One would expect that these treatments need to be continued for life, just in the same way as blood pressure medication,” Jebb said.
If this was the case, it would impact how national health systems judge whether these drugs are cost-effective, the researchers emphasised.
“This new data makes it clear they are a starting point, not a cure,” said Garron Dodd, a metabolic neuroscience researcher at the University of Melbourne not involved in the study.
“Sustainable treatment will likely require combination approaches, longer-term strategies, and therapies that reshape how the brain interprets energy balance, not just how much people eat,” he said.
-Agence France-Presse