People on weight-loss drugs like Ozempic may not need to jab themselves nearly as often as they think, a small new study suggests. Researchers at Scripps Health followed 30 patients on GLP-1 medications—including semaglutide (Ozempic/Wegovy) and tirzepatide (Mounjaro/Zepbound)—who'd hit a weight plateau and then shifted to less frequent injections, reports Gizmodo. Some stretched doses to once every two weeks; a few went longer, with one patient dosing roughly every six weeks.
Over an average of about nine months, most participants kept their weight off and maintained improvements in blood pressure, cholesterol, and blood sugar, according to findings published in the journal Obesity. Only five saw modest weight regain, and four people who began to gain switched back to their original schedule. The research also noted that weight lost during the reduced-dosing period came from lost fat, not muscle, per the New York Times.
The study is small and not randomized, and the authors stress that larger trials are needed before changing standard practice, per Gizmodo. Still, they say a structured "de-escalation" strategy could eventually help reduce side effects, ease costs, and make long-term use of GLP-1 drugs more realistic, while also freeing up supply for others who need them. "Chronic treatment does not necessarily mean maximal weekly dosing forever," Harvard obesity expert Dr. Fatima C. Stanford tells the Times.
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