GLP-1 for 6 Year Olds? Here’s What the Trial Actually Found

<p>Is obesity still a disease worthy of treatment when the patient is six years old?</p><p><br></p><p>This week, Novo Nordisk released Phase 3 STEP Young data in children ages 6 to 11 with obesity. After 68 weeks, 40.4% of children treated with semaglutide moved below the obesity threshold, compared with 0% on placebo. More than 85% of the children entered the trial with class II or class III severe obesity, and both groups received lifestyle intervention.</p><p><br></p><p>That raises a harder question than whether people are comfortable with kids taking GLP-1s: compared with what? A nearly 90% chance that obesity present at age 3 persists into the teen years? An approximately 80% chance that a teen with obesity carries it into adulthood? Another decade of stigma, bullying, and metabolic disease while we keep telling families to try harder?</p><p><br></p><p>I’m unapologetically supportive of studying and treating severe childhood obesity. That does not mean ignoring long-term questions around growth, puberty, nutrition, lean mass, or what happens when treatment stops. It means recognizing that withholding treatment is also a decision with consequences.</p><p><br></p><p>We also break down the new Structure Therapeutics data, including aleniglipron, an oral small-molecule GLP-1 that produced up to 16.2% mean weight loss at 72 weeks, and ACCG-2671, an experimental oral amylin/calcitonin agonist that produced 3.3% mean weight loss after a single dose, with some important tolerability caveats.</p><p><br></p><p>Plus, we look at a preliminary semaglutide signal involving asthma and COPD, and one of the strangest Ozempic access stories of the week.</p><p><br></p><p>Recorded from the Bask Health Studios.</p><p><br></p><p>This episode is sponsored by VoaFit. Learn more about VoaFit here:</p><p>https://voafit.com/otp</p><p><br></p><p>This episode was filmed in the Bask Health Studios, visit:</p><p>https://bask.health</p><p><br></p><p>Follow On The Pen everywhere plus get special discounts:</p><p>https://otplinks.com</p><p><br></p><p>Read more at:</p><p>https://obesity.news</p>