by Brenda Baletti, Ph.D., Childrens Health Defense:
Prescriptions for weight-loss drugs for children and teens increased sevenfold between October 2022 and September 2024, according to a MedPage Today analysis. Some pediatricians praised the drugs, but others who spoke to The Defender said the drugs put kids and teens at serious risk.
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The number of weight-loss drug prescriptions provided by pediatric and adolescent medical specialists for children and teens increased sevenfold between October 2022 and September 2024, according to a MedPage Today analysis of Symphony, a prescription drug database.
Prescriptions for Novo Nordisk’s drugs liraglutide, the generic name for Saxenda, and semaglutide, the generic name for Wegovy and Ozempic, rose from 3,448 to 24,435 in the U.S. during that time.
Total prescriptions for all GLP-1 receptor agonist drugs — the broader class of drugs they are part of — prescribed by pediatric and adolescent medicine specialists, more than doubled during the same period, from 59,868 to 125,538.
However, those numbers do not even include GLP-1 drugs prescribed to children by primary care physicians or family medicine practitioners, or at compounding pharmacies, MedPage Today said.
Since the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved Wegovy in 2021, the drug — and the entire class of drugs — has become a sensation, promoted by influencers and celebrities, helping to fuel a massive new drug market estimated to be worth $100 billion a year for drugmakers.
About 20% of U.S. children and adolescents are chronically obese, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). The FDA approved Saxenda to treat obesity in kids 12 and up in December 2020 and Wegovy in December 2022.
Weeks later, in January 2023, the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) issued new guidelines on childhood obesity — at the time, it was the first update to the guidelines in 15 years — recommending early diagnosis and aggressive treatment.
The AAP recommendations included weight-loss drugs for obese children as young as 8 and consultation for bariatric surgery for children with severe obesity as young as age 13.
The blockbuster drugs work by making people feel full so they eat less. They have shown to be stunningly effective at helping people to lose weight. However, the self-administered weekly injections work only as long as the patient keeps taking them — otherwise, the weight comes back.
Patients who take the drugs long-term risk exposing themselves to a host of side effects, ranging from vomiting, diarrhea and nausea, and fainting to serious issues like pancreatitis, stomach paralysis and kidney disease.
According to one study, Ozempic increases the risk of thyroid cancer by 50-75%. In clinical trials, 9 in 10 people experienced side effects.
There are no long-term studies on the effects of the drugs in adults or children — a problem, experts say, because children will have to take the drugs for a very long time. One study indicated the drugs, which may seriously affect children’s growth and development, including bone density and muscle mass, have the potential for abuse and are likely to be overprescribed.
The drugs are also expensive — about $1,300 per month without insurance. Medicaid covers all obesity drugs for children on its plans.
Novo Nordisk is also running clinical trials for another GLP-1 drug, liraglutide, in children ages 6 to 11. In September, the drugmaker reported positive late-stage clinical trial results from its SCALE Kids trial in the New England Journal of Medicine.
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