CHARLESTON, W.Va. — While West Virginians notably have the highest rates of obesity in the country, a doctor from WVU School of Medicine says there is hope of helping to lower obesity rates and turn the problem around through the onset of new drugs now entering the market.
According to the West Virginia Department of Health and Human Resources Bureau of Public Health, West Virginia was at an obesity rate of approximately 37.7%, the highest in the nation. Obesity is classified as having a Body Mass Index (BMI) of 30 or above.
However, West Virginia University School of Medicine Professor and Associate Program Director for Internal Medicine Dr. Laura Davisson came on MetroNews ‘Talkline’ last week predicting new drugs entering the market can now affectively target obesity in impactful and innovative ways.
Davisson said until recently, the weight loss drug Wegovy was the most affective treatment they had for obesity, producing about a 15% rate of weight loss in patients. She said Wegovy is more common with a drug used to treat Diabetes.
“It is the same medication that is in Ozempic,” Davisson said. She said both Wegovy and Ozempic harness one hormone to control eating habits.
Davisson said, however, there are two new major drugs on the horizon that are specifically designed to treat obesity– they are called Retatrutide and Zepbound.
She said Zepbound was just FDA-approved about a week ago, and while it’s similar to Wegovy, it harnesses a total of two hormone receptors to trigger weight loss rather than just one, promising up to 20% of weight loss in patients.
Davission said Retatrutide is also not out on the shelves quite yet and is still being tested, but it too shows much promise in controlling obesity. She said it’s being deemed the “triple G,” as it targets as much as three different hormone receptors all starting with the letter G, and it shows potential of being able to achieve the most weight loss numbers.
“It’s very highly effective, we are very excited for that one to come out, because, we’re talking weight loss of up to 25%, which is really getting close to the kind of weight loss you see through surgical weight loss,” she said.
Davisson said the new hormone treatments act as appetite suppressants, which she said reflects the novel way the medical field is looking at and approaching obesity– treating it more like a mental disorder rather than a physical condition.
She said there is an energy balance that is controlled by hormones in the body, but the obesity disease alters a person’s mental state when those energy levels drop, causing the person to perceive hunger and the food cravings they are having need to constantly be contained and suppressed by eating more. Due to this mental state, she said it’s really difficult for people who have hunger and cravings to ignore their body’s natural signals telling them when it’s time to start and stop eating.
“Instead of telling people to just eat less, the new philosophy is let’s actually control their hormonal signaling so their body’s not driving them to eat, and to eat certain foods that may not be the healthiest, so we work with some hormone receptors at the brain-level to actually control the appetite,” Davisson said.
She said the drugs also work some on the stomach-level, too, by slowing down food from emptying out of the stomach so it can produce the feeling of fullness more effectively.
Davisson said it’s a breakthrough time in controlling obesity rates and promoting effective weight loss solutions.
She said all of the previous weight loss supplements which have been on the market for a longtime have shown to not be as scientifically effective as what these new treatments are showing.
“While you may have one or two people that have taken those products and have had success, we have not been able to replicate that in showing significant, sustainable weight loss, but now we have medications that can do this,” she said.
However, Davisson said there is one issue behind the new medication— it’s not accessible to everyone. She said most insurance companies nor Medicare covers them as they are expensive and insurance companies typically look at short-term treatments.
Davisson said because of this, the goal they are trying to achieve now is convincing insurance companies of the benefits behind the drugs linked to significant weight loss and improving people’s health, as well as encouraging them to consider what the cost is of not treating obesity in the correct way.
“That’s what most of us believe, is that it just makes sense,” Davisson said. “We have something that finally will work, it will improve health, it will prevent people from developing a lot of diseases down the road, so we should absolutely use it.”
Davisson said the side-effects to Retatrutide and Zepbound are also proving to be completely manageable. She said they don’t work on their own, however, and will still require lifestyle changes and a comprehensive approach to weight loss.
Davisson went on to say these drugs are not for anyone who is not struggling with obesity who may just be needing to loose 10 to 15 pounds. She said traditional weight loss methods and lifestyle approaches are still most effective for people simply needing to lose some weight.