The quest for treatments to keep weight off after Ozempic

livemint.com:

Aida Diaz sat down at a long table laden with fried chicken, french fries, salad and more. Pick what you want for dinner, researchers at Columbia University instructed the 27-year-old New Yorker. Diaz filled her plate with salad, a bit of canned tuna, and chicken, grilled, not fried.

Then she grabbed a fry—because who can resist?—and a couple of spoonfuls of mac and cheese. “They said this is the hardest part," said Diaz, who is trying to keep more than 35 pounds off. It sure is.

Researchers including the team at Columbia and drugmakers are trying to solve the biggest problem in the weight-loss industry today: how to keep weight off once you lose it. Hundreds of thousands of people have shed tons of weight on blockbuster drugs including Ozempic and Wegovy. But many put the pounds back on when they stop taking the medications.

Millions of others like Diaz who lost weight by changing their diets and exercise habits struggle not to regain. Drugs or procedures to keep weight off could fuel an even bigger bonanza than Ozempic and its immensely profitable cousins. Losing weight is temporary, but maintaining it is lifelong.

Maintaining weight is also a different challenge from losing it. Makers of the weight-loss juggernauts have a big problem to overcome: Many people stop taking so-called GLP-1 drugs. Their insurers won’t pay for the drugs, they can’t tolerate side effects, or they don’t want to take medication long term.

Only 14% of people surveyed in 2023 by KFF, the health-policy research organization, were interested in taking a weight-loss drug once they were told they might gain weight back if they stopped. “The unmet need has shifted from how do you lose weight to how do you keep it off," said Dr. Harith Rajagopalan,