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HealthWatch Weight loss drugs have "no end game" amid lack of data on long-term use, former FDA commissioner warns healthwatch By Edited By May 13, 2025 / 1:03 PM EDT / CBS News Weight loss drugs have transformed how Americans lose weight, including former commissioner for the U.S. Food and Drug Administration Dr. David Kessler. But, Kessler warns there are unknowns about long-term use of the drugs and how to get people off them. "There is no end game," he said on "CBS Mornings Plus" Tuesday. "FDA allowed these medicines out without a long-term strategy." Kessler faced unexpected weight gain...

As a chef, self-educated nutritionist, and consultant to food-related businesses, I’ve witnessed firsthand the challenges facing the food retail industry. Restaurant owners and food service operators are grappling with declining sales and shifting consumer behaviors. Based on my experience and observations, three major factors are driving these concerns: the lingering effects of COVID-19 and inflation, the rise of weight loss drugs, and a perceived decline in overall food quality. However, with strategic adjustments—such as smaller portions, Ozempic-friendly options, lower-priced specials, and a vibrant happy hour—businesses can adapt and thrive in this evolving landscape. The Triple Threat to Food Retail COVID...

This gums up the works. Hollywood celebrities using popular weight loss drug Ozempic to shred those unwanted pounds are now facing an unexpected new side effect dubbed “Ozempic mouth,” according to a report. Users of the hottest prescription drug in Tinseltown, including Sharon Osbourne, Whoopie Goldberg, and Rebel Wilson, are showing signs of the distinctive side effect linked to rapid facial weight loss from a higher dose of the GLP-1 medication, a New York-based cosmetic dermatologist told the DailyMail.com “Many users of Ozempic who I know report noticeable volume loss in the face, which can result in the formation of...

As employee benefits evolve, a new contender has emerged, generating significant buzz in corporate America—coverage for weight-loss medications like Ozempic, Wegovy, and Zepbound. These GLP-1 agonists, originally developed for type 2 diabetes treatment but now widely sought after for their weight loss effects, are reshaping how employers think about health benefits and how employees evaluate job opportunities. Ozempic, a brand name for semaglutide, has become especially popular for its effectiveness in managing blood sugar levels and promoting weight loss. With list prices hovering around $1,350 for a four-week supply of Wegovy, these GLP-1 agonists remain financially out of reach for...

WW International, formerly known as WeightWatchers, has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection on Tuesday in a bid to cut its debt after Ozempic and other hugely popular obesity drugs upended its business model. Shares of the company, which once boasted of media mogul Oprah Winfrey as one of its top shareholders, slumped 40% in extended trading after announcing plans to file for bankruptcy as part of a reorganization plan with a group of its lenders. WeightWatchers began as weekly weight-loss support group meeting with 400 attendees, and quickly turned into a worldwide phenomena with millions of members across the...

The ‘Modern Family’ alum tells PEOPLE that he was initially "embarrassed" about his type 2 diabetes and kept his diagnosis a secret from friends and family Eric Stonestreet used to think his health was “fairly good.” He struggled to lose weight like many people, but felt fine overall. “I was just trying to maintain as healthy a lifestyle as I could without doing a tremendous amount about it,” he tells PEOPLE. But in 2009, just as he landed his beloved role as Cameron Tucker on Modern Family, Stonestreet was diagnosed with type 2 diabetes. “It was like this crazy happy...

Scientists may have identified a way to naturally regulate blood sugar levels and sugar cravings in a similar fashion to drugs like Ozempic. In mice and humans, the key to unlocking this natural process was found to be a gut microbe and its metabolites – the compounds it produces during digestion. By increasing the abundance of this one gut microbe in diabetic mice, researchers led by a team at Jiangnan University in China showed they can "orchestrate the secretion of glucagon-like peptide-1". Glucagon-like peptide-1 (GLP-1) is a hormone that is naturally produced by the body and which helps regulate blood...

Hollywood celebrities using popular weight loss drug Ozempic to shred those unwanted pounds are now facing an unexpected new side effect dubbed “Ozempic mouth,” according to a report. Users of the hottest prescription drug in Tinseltown, including Sharon Osbourne, Whoopie Goldberg, and Rebel Wilson, are showing signs of the distinctive side effect linked to rapid facial weight loss from a higher dose of the GLP-1 medication, a New York-based cosmetic dermatologist told the DailyMail.com. “Many users of Ozempic who I know report noticeable volume loss in the face, which can result in the formation of fine lines, wrinkles, sagging skin,...

A naturally occurring molecule identified by Stanford Medicine researchers appears similar to semaglutide — also known as Ozempic — in suppressing appetite and reducing body weight. Notably, testing in animals also showed that it worked without some of the drug’s side effects such as nausea, constipation and significant loss of muscle mass. The newly discovered molecule, BRP, acts through a separate but similar metabolic pathway and activates different neurons in the brain — seemingly offering a more targeted approach to body weight reduction. “The receptors targeted by semaglutide are found in the brain but also in the gut, pancreas and...

A popular and controversial drug used for weight loss is among others that could potentially have extremely serious side effects. According to multiple studies, patients taking drugs such as Ozempic may experience conditions that cause inflammation and the blockage of blood flow to their eyes. That could result in severe and possibly irreversible vision loss, the Daily Mail reported Monday. “Now, researchers have detailed nine new reports of US patients who went blind after taking semaglutide or tirzepatide, the active ingredients in Ozempic and Mounjaro, respectively,” the article continued: The researchers wrote in JAMA Ophthalmology last month that it’s not...

Snack foods and sweet treats have seen a decline in purchases, as people reach for more nutrient-dense options.Ozempic, Mounjaro, and other glucagon-like peptide-1 medications, otherwise known as GLP-1s, are changing how Americans shop for groceries. In early January, Food & Wine published a story about how food companies are releasing all-new products or reimagining the marketing of old ones to appeal to more GLP-1 users who may be looking for specific nutrition needs like high-protein, high-fiber foods. In that story, we mentioned one tiny but important research paper by Cornell University that showed that households with at least one GLP-1...

Scientists may have identified a way to naturally regulate blood sugar levels and sugar cravings in a similar fashion to drugs like Ozempic. In mice and humans, the key to unlocking this natural process was found to be a gut microbe and its metabolites – the compounds it produces during digestion. By increasing the abundance of this one gut microbe in diabetic mice, researchers led by a team at Jiangnan University in China have shown they can "orchestrate the secretion of glucagon-like peptide-1". Glucagon-like peptide-1 (GLP-1) is a hormone that is naturally produced by the body and which helps regulate...

A comprehensive new study confirmed that GLP-1 medications such as Ozempic and Mounjaro have myriad health benefits — even more than previously thought. Analyzing the medical records of roughly 2.5 million patients within the VA system, researchers at the Department of Veterans Affairs found that GLP-1 weight-loss drugs have an impact on a whopping 175 diseases and conditions. The study bolsters other research that found GLP-1 medications aid in the treatment and prevention of Alzheimer’s disease by reducing inflammation and in curtailing substance abuse by influencing dopamine levels in the brain. But some of the results were unexpected, including how...

The GLP-1 saga epitomizes the unsustainable corruption within our medical system Story at a Glance: •In early 2023, a private conference with pharmaceutical industry leaders and investors highlighted anti-obesity and Alzheimer’s drugs as the next big money-makers and had the FDA head as its keynote speaker. •Since then, the FDA has taken questionable steps to promote these drugs, particularly Ozempic, an anti-obesity medication. There's been a massive push to get everyone, including children, on Ozempic, using shockingly aggressive marketing tactics. •This rush is eerily similar to the fen-phen craze, a temporary weight loss drug later pulled from the market for...

Two independent studies show that patients with type 2 diabetes who are treated with the drug Ozempic have an increased risk of developing damage to the optic nerve of the eye, which can lead to severe and permanent loss of vision. Both of the new register-based studies from SDU confirm a concern that was raised earlier this year in a smaller American study. "We have examined data from all 424,152 Danes with type 2 diabetes. We found that Ozempic more than doubles the risk of developing NAION. NAION is damage to the optic nerve of the eye caused by a...

Research published in the last week revealed that for the first time in more than a decade, obesity rates among US adults fell slightly last year, decreasing from 46% in 2022 to 45.6% in 2023. While we might need a few more years of data to conclusively tie these results to the rise of semaglutide drugs like Novo Nordisk’s Ozempic, it feels impossible to ignore the timing, with Novo’s sales booming in recent years and hitting a record ~$10 billion in its latest quarter.Sales of these GLP-1 treatments — drugs that mimic the effects of blood-sugar-regulating hormone GLP-1, a feature...

Medications for type 2 diabetes and obesity known as GLP-1 receptor agonists may lower the risk of acute pancreatitis recurrence in people with obesity and those with type 2 diabetes, according to a study. Doctors have been cautious about prescribing these medications in patients with a history of pancreatitis due to the potential risk of worsening the condition, said Mahmoud Nassar, M.D., Ph.D. Acute pancreatitis is a sudden inflammation of the pancreas. The researchers used data from a database called TriNetX, which contains information from about 127 million patients across 15 countries, mainly from the United States. They identified 638,501...

"We find that there is a peptide hormone in the gut called GLP1 that increases the secretion of insulin only when the blood glucose is high. This effectively eliminates the risk of hypoglycemic shock. Another advantage is that GLP1 administration has been found to stimulate weight-loss. The hormone offers the promise of revolutionising the treatment of Type II diabetes and reduce obesity," he said.

Elon Musk, who is spearheading President-elect Donald Trump’s Department of Government Efficiency, is touting GLP-1 drugs to treat obesity. “Nothing would do more to improve the health, lifespan and quality of life for Americans than making GLP inhibitors [sic] super low cost to the public,” Musk wrote in a post on X Wednesday. “Nothing else is even close.” Musk’s comments come just two weeks after the Biden administration made an 11th-hour push to require Medicare and state Medicaid programs to cover obesity drugs. The administration is proposing to reinterpret a 2003 law banning Medicare from covering popular GLP-1s directly for...

A few years ago, West Virginia, which has the highest obesity rate in the nation, quietly began a small and unusual pilot program that would touch hundreds of lives: It started covering obesity drugs for state employees—even as many other insurers balked at what they considered expensive “vanity” drugs. The program was, by health measures, a success. Patients shed as much as 120 pounds, their cholesterol dropped, their prediabetes faded, and they cut down on blood-pressure meds. As word began to spread, more patients wanted to join. A school nurse told me her weight loss inspired at least six other...