What you need to know about weight loss drugs

Elle Furbush of East Hartford has lost 71 pounds since September.

“I have struggled with weight all my life,” she told NBC CT Responds.

After decades of ups and downs, Furbush’s doctor prescribed her Wegovy, a Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved semaglutide injection for chronic weight management.

“And for me to have such success, I feel really good about it,” Furbush said.

Success stories like hers have led to endless advertisements showcasing drugs to help you shed pounds fast, but doctors stress they’re not suitable for everyone.

“If you have a BMI greater than 30, you’re appropriate for weight-loss medications,” said Dr. Devika Umashanker, the system medical director of obesity medicine for Hartford HealthCare Medical Group.

She said you’re also eligible for them if you have a body mass index (BMI) of 27, but have other risk factors as well.

For some time now, doctors have been using off-label medications to help patients lose weight, but not to the efficacy of these injectables we’re hearing about now.

So how did we get here?

Yale Obesity Research Center (Y-Weight) has been leading pivotal trials to test anti-obesity medications, with some research sponsored by drug companies.

You may recognize the drug under the brand name Zepbound or Mounjaro, but tirzepatide was originally FDA-approved solely for diabetes until Dr. Ania Jastreboff, the director of Yale Obesity Research Center, and her team in New Haven led its latest trial for use on obesity patients.

“It was a global trial, including over 2,000 participants, including participants here in Connecticut. And what we found was that with 72 weeks of treatment with tirzepatide on average, individuals lost up to 22.5% of their total body weight,” Jastreboff said.

The study published in 2022 led to tirazepatide’s FDA approval for weight loss last year.

But don’t let Jastreboff hear you call this a weight-loss drug. She stresses it’s not just about slimming down. This is an anti-obesity medication.

“Two-thirds of Americans did not wake up one morning and decide to be overweight or to have obesity. And now we have the tools to help treat our patients and to treat that underlying biology,” Jastreboff said.

She explains that these anti-obesity medications mimic special hormones reregulating how much fat our body wants to carry, as our bodies have been negatively impacted by our environment with highly processed foods, lack of sleep, lack of exercise, and stress.

“When we're treating obesity, in essence, we are able to potentially prevent, mitigate or treat hundreds of other diseases,” Jastreboff said.

Connecticut Poison Control Center is getting calls from users taking too much of the drugs.

Some are injecting it daily instead of weekly.

Medical Director Dr. Suzanne Doyon also wants to warn of fake drugs being sold because of the demand.

“When that happens, we really, really don’t know what it is that the syringe contains. It could contain anything under the sun,” she said.

NBC CT Responds didn’t buy anything, but we investigated purchasing a weight-loss drug online.

While some sites asked for reporter Caitlin Burchill’s BMI and a prescription, others were ready to take her cash with just one click.

And we found some folks who were selling products they said were weight-loss drugs on online marketplaces.

But don’t cut corners when it comes to your health.

“When medications are being prescribed, they have to be done appropriately by the medical provider. That’s what it comes down to,” Umashanker said.

Especially as patients can experience side effects.

“The most severe form of a side effect that this medication can cause is the inflammation of your pancreas and if that’s not properly monitored it can be medically very complicated,” Umashanker said.

If the medications are used appropriately, side effects can be mild or mitigated, Jastreboff says as she and her team continue trials right here in Connecticut to advance these medications to help reduce obesity.

“For years, our patients have so unfairly been blamed and shamed for having obesity,” she said.

As doctors NBC CT Responds spoke to hope the supply of these drugs increases, they also say the cost must decrease.

Umashanker said less than 20% of her eligible patients get coverage from their insurance company, costing some thousands of dollars a dose.

Furbush said she’s thankful hers is covered. She’s also thankful the stigma of obesity is changing.

“The fact that obesity now is actually being viewed as a quote-on-quote disease like blood pressure, like diabetes, and that this is finally something that can be utilized to help control that,” she said.

Jastreboff says folks interested in participating in a Yale clinical trial studying new anti-obesity medications can email: Yweight@yale.edu or search their studies here.