Researchers Discover Drugs Like Ozempic Aren't as Effective Outside of Clinical Trials
Unless you've been living under a rock, you've probably heard the buzz about weight-loss drugs like Ozempic. Some people think they're a positive scientific breakthrough that can help folks with obesity; others are concerned about their side effects. No matter where you stand, you won't stop hearing about them any time soon. They're becoming a more common treatment for weight loss for everyone from celebrities to your neighbor down the street.
But according to a new study from the Cleveland Clinic, semaglutides and tirzepatide—two of the most popular GLP-1 drugs—might not be as effective as scientists originally though, particularly when they're used outside research settings. The study, published in the Obesity Journal, found that people on GLP-1 medications tend to lose less weight outside of clinical trials, mostly because they don't stay on the drugs as long or use lower maintenance doses than those prescribed in research settings.
'Our study shows that patients treated for obesity with semaglutide or trizepatide lost less weight on average in a regular clinical setting compared to what is observed in randomized clinical trials," said lead author of the study Hamlet Gasoyan, Ph.D. "According to our data, this could be explained by higher rates of discontinuation and lower maintenance dosages used in clinical practice, compared to randomized clinical trial settings.'
For the study, researchers looked at almost 8,000 adults with clinically-severe obesity, including over 1,300 with prediabetes. Between 2021 and 2023, all participants took either semaglutide or tirzepatide. Researchers tracked how long participants stayed on the medications as well as how much weight they lost.In 2024, the researchers broke the participants into two groups: those who discontinued treatment early (within three months of starting) or late (between three and 12 months of starting).
Turns out, a lot of people didn't stick with the medication. More than 20 percent of participants stopped early, and another 32 percent stopped within a year. On top of that, over 80 percent of participants were taking lower-than-recommended maintenance doses.
As you might've guessed, the longer people stayed on the drugs, the better the results. Those who ditched early lost just 3.6 percent of their body weight, while those who hung on a bit longer dropped about 6.8 percent in a year. But the real transformation came from patients who stuck with it—they lost around 11.9 percent. And when they combined that consistency with higher maintenance doses? Weight loss jumped to 13.7 percent with semaglutide and a hefty 18 percent with tirzepatide.
Researchers didn't just look at weight loss either—they also tracked blood sugar levels in people who had prediabetes at the start of the study. And just like with weight, sticking with the meds for a longer period of time made a big difference.
Only 33 percent of people who quit early saw their blood sugar return to normal. That went up to 41 percent for those who stayed on a bit longer. But for the people who stuck with treatment? Nearly 68 percent hit healthy blood sugar levels.
'Our findings about the real-world use patterns of these medications and associated clinical outcomes could inform the decisions of healthcare providers and their patients on the role of treatment discontinuation and maintenance dosage in achieving clinically meaningful weight reductions,' said Gasoyan.
Researchers Discover Drugs Like Ozempic Aren't as Effective Outside of Clinical Trials first appeared on Men's Journal on Jun 17, 2025
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