Treating obesity and diabetes: drugs alone are not enough

Pharmacological agents capable of causing loss of up to a quarter of bodyweight are likely to be available soon. Retatrutide, shown to effectively treat obesity in a phase 2 trial, is the latest in a set of drugs that have caused huge excitement in the fields of obesity and diabetes. Semaglutide, an agonist at GLP-1, was approved by the US Food and Drug Administration for treatment of diabetes (under the name Ozempic) in 2017. In 2021, it was approved for treatment of obesity or overweight (as Wegovy), and a trial of its effects on renal disease and risks of cardiovascular and kidney mortality was recently halted early for efficacy.