Semaglutide must be taken for life or weight comes back: Doctor - Insider

Those who lose weight using semaglutide are likely to put it back on if they ever stop taking the drug, research shows. .

While the drug is a potential game changer for people who are sick from obesity, it is a lifelong commitment, Francesco Rubino, chair of metabolic surgery at King's College London, told Insider.

It was first meant as a treatment for type 2 diabetes, but proved to be a powerful tool for the treatment of obesity and weight loss.

Recent studies showed that patients taking the drug lost 15% to 20% of their body weight over 68 weeks, Insider's Gabby Landsverk previously reported?

A study of almost 2,000 adults, published in the peer-reviewed journal Diabetes, Obesity and Metabolism in April 2022, showed that patients who went off the drug regained two-thirds of the lost weight within a year