Weight reduction drugs have gained quite a lot of popularity in recent times, and lots of people have jumped on the bandwagon without giving the trend a second thought. Nonetheless, there are potential negative effects related to the medication that folks should find out about.

It began when researchers found that a category of medication used to treat type 2 diabetes also contributed to weight reduction. Consequently, drugs, akin to Victoza and Ozempic, became popular treatment options for obesity.

Called GLP-1 Ras, these drugs are administered as day by day or weekly injections. The medication helps the body produce insulin and lower blood sugar levels. The drugs were approved to be used in type 2 diabetes patients in 2005 by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA), as per ABC News.

After its weight reduction advantages got here to light, the FDA approved GLP-1 RA for chronic weight management in 2014. Subsequently, additional drugs in the category were approved for weight reduction.

Based on the Journal of the American Medical Association, multiple in 10 of 35 million Americans with type 2 diabetes were estimated to be on this medication in 2019.

“I prescribe these medications 10 times per day,” Dr. Amanda Velazquez, Director of Obesity Medicine at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, told ABC News. “Obesity is a chronic relapsing disease.”

Velazquez added the load loss effects of the medications stop after drug disuse.

A recent study from the University of Montpellier published in Diabetes Care found a link between the long-term use of those drugs and the possibilities of developing thyroid cancer. People, who were on the drugs for 1-3 years, were 58% more more likely to get thyroid cancer, the study found. Furthermore, the chance for medullary thyroid cancer, a rare type of the disease, was even higher.

“The newer findings provide interesting additional data to this clinical discussion, though are usually not independently enough to set a latest standard for screening,” Dr. Erik K. Alexander, Chief of the Thyroid Section within the Division of Endocrinology, Diabetes, and Hypertension at Brigham and Women’s Hospital, told the news outlet. “[These drugs] should only be used when the good thing about treatment outweighs known or suspected risk, and this assessment needs to be continually reconsidered by each patient with their physician regularly.”

Novo Nordisk, the pharmaceutical company that makes Ozempic, Victoza, and one other drug specifically meant for weight reduction called Wegovy, said in an announcement that extensive data from trials and real-world evidence “haven’t shown a causal relationship between the usage of GLP-1 receptor agonists and risk of thyroid tumors.”

Currently, patients on these medications are asked every 3-4 months for liver, diabetes, kidney, cholesterol, and electrolyte testing. Thyroid testing shouldn’t be a part of that list.

“The info on thyroid cancer definitely gives me pause,” Dr. Heather Sateia, Assistant Professor of Medicine at Johns Hopkins Hospital, said. “There shouldn’t be currently a advice for thyroid ultrasound or serum calcitonin monitoring, but we’re keeping an eye fixed out for changes in those recommendations. I believe we’ll see a shift on this soon.”