Wegovy use among teens up 50% as obesity crisis worsens
- 03-Jun-2025
LOS ANGELES, June 3: American teens are increasingly turning to the weight-loss drug Wegovy as more families and their doctors gain confidence in its use for young people with obesity, new data shared with Reuters shows. The average rate of teens beginning treatment with the highly effective Novo Nordisk drug grew 50% last year to […]
Beyond BMI: global commission proposes new way to diagnose obesity
- 15-Jan-2025
Doctors worldwide should diagnose obesity differently, relying on broader criteria and taking into account when the condition causes ill-health, according to a new framework drawn up by experts and endorsed by 76 medical organizations internationally. At the moment, clinicians use BMI or body mass index to diagnose obesity, a calculation based on a person’s weight […]
More than a billion people worldwide suffer from obesity: WHO
- 01-Mar-2024
More than a billion people globally are now considered obese, a condition linked to an increased risk of numerous serious health problems, according to updated estimates from the World Health Organization and an international group of researchers. Obesity is so prevalent it has become more common than being underweight in most nations, including many low […]
Zepbound: Eli Lilly obesity drug now available in pharmacies
- 06-Dec-2023
Eli Lilly on Tuesday said its recently approved obesity treatment Zepbound is now available in US pharmacies and could cost $550 a month for customers whose health insurance does not cover the drug, or half the list price. Zepbound is the latest entrant to the fast-growing market for weight-loss drugs, which is forecast to grow […]
Roche joins race for obesity drugs with $2.7 billion
- 04-Dec-2023
Roche agreed to take over unlisted obesity drug developer Carmot Therapeutics for $2.7 billion upfront, joining a list of contestants seeking to challenge the dominant makers of weight-loss drugs Novo Nordisk and Eli Lilly. The U.S. takeover target’s most promising drug candidate, a once-a-week injection called CT-388, is a dual GLP-1/GIP receptor agonist like Lilly’s […]
Weight-loss drugs pilot to begin in UK
- 07-Jun-2023
Britain plans to launch a pilot programme exploring how new weekly weight-loss shots such as Novo Nordisk’s Wegovy can be given to obese patients by general practitioners even as the drug’s market launch remains unclear. The government’s announcement on the 40-million-pound ($50 million) pilot programme comes after drug cost-effectiveness watchdog NICE in March recommended the […]
Obesity may weaken Covid vaccine protection
- 07-May-2022
Severe obesity may weaken the effectiveness of COVID-19 vaccines in those who have never been infected with the coronavirus, according to a small Turkish study. Among those in the study without previous SARS-CoV-2 infection who had received the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine, patients with severe obesity had antibody levels more than three times lower than normal-weight individuals. […]
No chocolate or ice cream ads for kids as Spain tackles obesity
- 29-Oct-2021
Spain will ban advertising of unhealthy foods and drinks like chocolate, biscuits and ice cream aimed at children to help fight obesity in young people, the consumer affairs minister said on Thursday. “Our children are very vulnerable to advertising and it is our obligation to protect them,” Minister Alberto Garzon said on Twitter. He said […]
Coronavirus found to infect fat cells
- 28-Oct-2021
Obesity is a known risk factor for more severe COVID-19. One likely reason may be that the virus can infect fat cells, researchers have discovered. In lab experiments and in autopsies of patients who died of COVID-19, they found the virus infects two types of cells found in fat tissue: mature fat cells, called adipocytes, […]
Woman moves out of bed after 14 years following weight loss surgery in Lahore
- 18-Jul-2021
LAHORE: A Lahore surgeon helped a female school teacher who was on a bed for the past 14 years to shed 90 kilograms of her weight after performing bariatric surgery on her free of cost, ARY NEWS reported on Sunday. The weight loss surgery has helped the woman to move out of her bed after […]