Weight-loss Drug Prescriptions for Kids and Teens Soar Despite No Safety Data

Prescriptions for weight-loss drugs for children and teens increased sevenfold between October 2022 and September 2024, according to a MedPage Today analysis.

by Brenda Baletti, Ph.D.

The number of weight-loss drug prescriptions provided by pediatric and adolescent medical specialists for children and teens increased sevenfold between October 2022 and September 2024, according to a MedPage Today analysis of Symphony, a prescription drug database.

Prescriptions for Novo Nordisk’s drugs liraglutide, the generic name for Saxenda, and semaglutide, the generic name for Wegovy and Ozempic, rose from 3,448 to 24,435 in the U.S. during that time.

Total prescriptions for all GLP-1 receptor agonist drugs — the broader class of drugs they are part of — prescribed by pediatric and adolescent medicine specialists, more than doubled during the same period, from 59,868 to 125,538.

However, those numbers do not even include GLP-1 drugs prescribed to children by primary care physicians or family medicine practitioners, or at compounding pharmacies, MedPage Today said.

Since the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved Wegovy in 2021, the drug — and the entire class of drugs — has become a sensation, promoted by influencers and celebrities, helping to fuel a massive new drug market estimated to be worth $100 billion a year for drugmakers.

About 20% of U.S. children and adolescents are chronically obese, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). The FDA approved Saxenda to treat obesity in kids 12 and up in December 2020 and Wegovy in December 2022.

Weeks later, in January 2023, the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) issued new guidelines on childhood obesity — at the time, it was the first update to the guidelines in 15 years — recommending early diagnosis and aggressive treatment.

The AAP recommendations included weight-loss drugs for obese children as young as 8 and consultation for bariatric surgery for children with severe obesity as young as age 13.

The blockbuster drugs work by making people feel full so they eat less. They have shown to be stunningly effective at helping people to lose weight. However, the self-administered weekly injections work only as long as the patient keeps taking them — otherwise, the weight comes back.

Patients who take the drugs long-term risk exposing themselves to a host of side effects, ranging from vomiting, diarrhea and nausea, and fainting to serious issues like pancreatitis, stomach paralysis and kidney disease.

According to one study, Ozempic increases the risk of thyroid cancer by 50-75%. In clinical trials, 9 in 10 people experienced side effects.

There are no long-term studies on the effects of the drugs in adults or children — a problem, experts say, because children will have to take the drugs for a very long time. One study indicated the drugs, which may seriously affect children’s growth and development, including bone density and muscle mass, have the potential for abuse and are likely to be overprescribed.

The drugs are also expensive — about $1,300 per month without insurance. Medicaid covers all obesity drugs for children on its plans.

Novo Nordisk is also running clinical trials for another GLP-1 drug, liraglutide, in children ages 6 to 11. In September, the drugmaker reported positive late-stage clinical trial results from its SCALE Kids trial in the New England Journal of Medicine.

Eli Lilly also has ongoing trials of tirzepatide (Zepbound) in children ages 6 to 11.

Pharma creating market for drugs kids will have to take their entire lives

Media coverage in outlets such as MedPage and The Associated Press on the rising rates of GLP-1 drugs for children has been positive, typically including anecdotes about children and teens who successfully lost weight and are living fuller lives as a result.

MedPage interviewed several doctors who praised the drugs, although they said they use them carefully. Some highlighted the difficulty in getting pediatricians, families and communities to implement serious lifestyle changes as justification for the drug use.

Pediatrician Dr. Michelle Perro, co-author of “What’s Making Our Children Sick?” expressed frustration that the skyrocketing use of GLP-1 drugs for kids is a boon for Big Pharma that places kids and teens at serious risk.

“Once again, children are under assault as a targeted market for taking lifelong pharmaceuticals via the use of GLP-1 drugs for obesity,” Perro, who is also CEO of GMOScience, told The Defender.

She said there’s no doubt “we have a significant metabolic health issue amongst our youth — with approximately 1 in 5 children being reported as obese. However, the exponential growth in prescribing and the lowering of the allowable age at which these drugs can be prescribed is stunning.“

In her practice, Perro focuses on addressing the underlying causes of childhood chronic diseases. “GLP-1 pharmaceuticals are toxic bandaids,” she said. “The real culprits of the obesity epidemic are the unbridled exposure of obesogens — endocrine-disrupting chemicals in the daily lives of our children.”

Those include everything from pesticides to flame retardants to ultra-processed food additives, plastic toys and cookware and cleaning supplies.

Perro was critical of mainstream experts who see the two possible treatments as “diet and nutrition” — which typically means encouraging kids to eat less and exercise more — or these drugs.

This approach is “outdated and myopic,” because it doesn’t account for the fact that children are not only exposed to a “chemical barrage of a toxic chemical soup, they are overfed and undernourished — nutritionally bereft. This lack of nutrients creates increased appetites as children seek more nutrition,” Perro said.

“They don’t need drugs: They need real nutrient-dense organic, regenerative food.”

Pediatrician Dr. Lawrence Palevsky also emphasized the failure of U.S. medicine to address the root causes of childhood chronic illness, instead focusing on symptom improvement.

There are multiple causes behind the childhood obesity epidemic, Palevsky told The Defender, including the societal embrace of processed foods.

“These food products are addictive and they barely have any nutritional value,” he said, adding:

“Children who eat these foods are starving. Starving for the proper nutrients to support the healthy growth and development of their bodies and, too often, starving for much-needed emotional support, feeling heard and seen, and desperate for the love they deserve. Eating comfort food products, in their minds, helps them ‘feel better,’ and makes the pain, grief, sorrow, anger, temporarily go away.”

Other factors like poor access to healthy food, poverty, parents who work long hours, peer pressure, school contracts for unhealthy food and addictive chemicals also play a role, he said.

Providing “an untested, magic pill that brings them some improvement but doesn’t really change the habits that brought them to be obese in the first place” robs people of the incentive to understand and address the broader problem, Palevsky said.

“We have created the ‘solution’ to treat the problem,” he said, “without really being disciplined and empathetic enough to stop the creation of obese children in the first place.”

Given the lack of long-term studies of the effects of these drugs, “whatever side effects we are seeing, should be a concern enough for us to be more cautious about using them,” Palevsky said.