Research
Hormonal
Discontinuation of obesity pharmacotherapy leads to significant weight regain and recurrence of metabolic benefits loss, necessitating lifelong treatment or intensive lifestyle support.
Obesity is a chronic condition, much like high blood pressure. If you stop your medication, you will likely regain the weight and your health markers (like blood sugar and blood pressure) may worsen. Most people need to stay on treatment long-term to maintain their health benefits. If you want to stop, discuss a plan with your doctor, as weight regain is very common.
StrongSupportsVERY_HIGH confidence
Treatment discontinuation is associated with weight regain and recurrence of weight-related comorbidities for the majority of individuals who cease obesity-modifying medication, with a loss of the metabolic benefits achieved on pharmacotherapy...
Why this rating
Supported by STEP 4 and other trials cited.
Source
Pharmacotherapy for the management of overweight and obesity?
Patrice M. Forner et al. · Australian Journal of General Practice · 2025
DOI 10.31128/ajgp-09-24-7411
narrative_reviewCited 3×
Read the paper DOI resolved against Crossref · corpus check 2026-06-10
More from this paper
- Pharmacotherapy using GLP-1 receptor agonists (semaglutide) or dual GIP/GLP-1 agonists (tirzepatide) produces significant weight loss (10-20%) and improves obesity-related comorbidities, serving as a necessary adjunct to lifestyle intervention for patients with BMI ≥30 kg/m2 or ≥27 kg/m2 with complications.Strong
- Phentermine/topiramate and naltrexone/bupropion are effective alternative pharmacotherapies for weight loss (4-10%) in patients without cardiovascular contraindications, offering oral administration options.Good
Related findings · Hormonal
- Initial treatment for type 2 diabetes should be a combination of metformin and either an SGLT-2 inhibitor or a GLP-1 receptor agonist to achieve cardiorenal protection, rather than monotherapy or older agents like sulfonylureas.Strong
- For patients with specific monogenic obesity syndromes (leptin deficiency, POMC/PCSK1/LEPR mutations), targeted pharmacotherapy (recombinant leptin or setmelanotide) is highly effective and should be prioritized, unlike in polygenic obesity.Strong
- Continued weekly administration of 2.4 mg subcutaneous semaglutide prevents weight regain and promotes further weight loss in adults with overweight or obesity, whereas switching to placebo results in significant weight regain.Strong
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