Medications

Please note that we serve patients in California only.

We now have some very exciting new medications to help with weight loss. We can talk about whether you would like to use medications, and if so, which ones.

The newer GLP-1 medications for weight loss include Semaglutide [generic for Wegovy] and Tirzepatide [generic for Zepbound]. Both are approved by the FDA for weight loss [in selected patients]. We have partnered with certified pharmacies to have Semaglutide or Tirzepatide delivered to your door. We are also happy to prescribe name-brand Wegovy and Zepbound.

In one study, using once-a-week injectable Semaglutide resulted in patients losing 14.9% of their body weight over 68 weeks, compared to 2.4% weight loss for patients given placebo (1). This is significantly better than the performance of older weight-loss medications.

A study of Tirzepatide showed an average weight loss of 20.9% of body weight after

72 weeks (2) with weekly injections of higher doses.

There are new combinations of old weight-loss medications, such as Qsymia and Contrave. While the weight loss results of these medications is not as high as the GLP-1 medications, there is a wide variation in individual results. For some people, Qsymia or Contrave can be effective and well-tolerated. Their advantage is lower cost and being available as a tablet to take by mouth as opposed to a weekly injection.

1. Wilding J, Batterham R et al. Once-Weekly Semaglutide in Adults with Overweight or Obesity. N Engl J Med 2021; 384:989-1002.

2. Jastreboff AM, Aronne LJ, Ahmad NN, Wharton S, Connery L, Alves B, Kiyosue A, Zhang S, Liu B, Bunck MC, Stefanski A, for the SURMOUNT-1 Investigators. Tirzepatide Once Weekly for the Treatment of Obesity. N Engl J Med. 2022 Jun 4;387(3):205-216. doi: 10.1056/NEJMoa2206038.