Journal of Urgent Care Medicine

Head-to-Head Study Compares GLP-1 Weight Loss

In a pharmaceutical head-to-head, tirzepatide was found to provide 47% greater relative weight loss compared to semaglutide. On average, patients using tirzepatide lost 50.3 lbs (22.8 kg), and those using semaglutide lost 33.1 lbs (15.0 kg) after 72 weeks. In addition, for the study’s secondary endpoint, 31.6% of people taking tirzepatide achieved at least 25% body weight loss compared to 16.1% of those taking semaglutide. The randomized, open-label trial included 751 participants across the United …

GLP-1 Drugs May Have Potential For Addiction Treatment

Patients taking glucagon-like peptide-1 (GLP-1) drugs like semaglutide for diabetes may have a lower risk of opioid drug overdose, according to a new study led by National Institute on Drug Abuse Director Nora Volkow, MD, published in JAMA Network Open. Previous empirical studies and anecdotal reports of fewer drug cravings among individuals with type 2 diabetes and comorbid opioid use disorder who use semaglutide inspired the study. Because the GLP-1 drugs are relatively new, there …

GLP-1 Drugs Increasingly Used For Weight, Not Diabetes

A nationwide population-based study on prescribing trends published in the Annals of Internal Medicine found a significant increase in new users of GLP-1 receptor agonists who don’t have a diagnosis of type 2 diabetes. The proportion of new GLP-1 users with type 2 diabetes decreased from nearly 90% to about 70% from 2019 to 2023, according to a separate analysis of the findings in MedPage Today. Meanwhile, new users tend to be those prescribed the …

Substantial Number of GLP-1 Drugs in the Pipeline Hint at Lower Future Costs

Drugmakers are developing new iterations of GLP-1 weight loss drugs that could result in fewer side effects. According to a news item in Becker’s Hospital Review, 27 GLP-1 drugs are in development, but the majority of the data is based on animal studies or early-stage human trials. In one example, researchers are optimistic about the experimental drug petrelinitide, which was shown to reduce body weight by an average of nearly 9% at 16 weeks. It …