However, the medications, which are administered by injection, are controversial because they can cause side-effects such as nausea and fatigue, and it is thought weight loss will reverse when the drugs are stopped
Like all drugs in this class, they carry a boxed warning on the US label that they should not be used in persons with a personal or family history of medullary thyroid cancer or multiple endocrine neoplasia type 2 because of a signal in rodents that these medications have a dose- and duration-dependent risk of thyroid C-cell tumors [18, 19]
For patients who combine medical support with lifestyle changes, results are often long-lasting and easier to maintain
Semaglutide, with its 165-hour half-life, requires only a weekly injection
However, only 24% of the participants in the intervention group maintained at least 10 kg weight loss, highlighting both the potential and the challenges of long-term durability of weight loss [89]