They have been overrated as an antidote to America’s obesity crisis – but weight reduction drugs like Ozempic are still costlier and fewer effective than plain old surgery.
The injections were found to cost twice as much and result in about 4 percent less weight reduction in comparison with an operation that is been around for years.
Researchers from Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston found that weight-loss drugs containing semaglutide cost greater than $53,000 over five years, in comparison with a ‘stomach stich’ which got here to lower than $20,000.
The operation, where a part of the stomach is stitched as much as make it smaller, was also found to be simpler at sustaining essentially the most weight reduction after five years – people’s BMI after the weight-loss surgery was 31.7 in comparison with 33.0.
Researchers from Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston found that weight-loss drugs containing semaglutide cost greater than $53,000 over five years, in comparison with a ‘stomach stich’ surgery which got here to lower than $20,000
Researchers said the value of Ozempic and similar drugs would have to be reduced three-fold, from $13,618 to $3,591, for it to be the popular option.
Semaglutide has change into popular attributable to its noninvasiveness, ease of use as a weekly injection, and short-term effectiveness, the researchers said.
An endoscopic sleeve gastroplasty (ESG), however, is a one-time procedure that could be repeated a number of years later, if the stomach has stretched or stitches have loosened.
ESG is a minimally invasive weight-loss procedure which reduces the dimensions of the stomach without the necessity for an incision through the skin.
TV celebrity Stacey Silva had the procedure and reality star Alana “Honey Boo Boo” Thompson can also be attributable to undergo the surgery.
The study compared ESG with semaglutide to treat patients with class two obesity, which suggests they’d a BMI of 35-39.9, over five years.
The base case they checked out was a 45-year-old patient with a BMI of 37. They then used publicly available data from clinical trials to simulate other hypothetical patients.
The researchers simulated two treatment strategies – semaglutide and ESG – versus no treatment.
An ESG is completed using a versatile tube passed down through the throat with a camera attached, after which a surgeon closes off a portion of the stomach with stitches.
This reduces the dimensions which restricts how much someone can eat.
The model incorporated costs of ESG, repeat ESG and the prices of treating possible adversarial events after the surgery, which could temporary stomachache, nausea and vomiting.
As with any form of surgery, there are also very small risks of significant complications from the operation itself. These can include bleeding, infection and tears within the stomach.
A meta-analysis of studies found that rate of adversarial effects ranged from 1.5 percent to 2.3 percent.
For Ozempic, researchers calculated the monthly cost of semaglutide, which is around $1,000 a month.
An endoscopic sleeve gastroplasty normally costs between $7,000 and $9,000, in accordance with Bagshahi Bariatric and General Surgery in Texas. Health insurance may cover a part of the associated fee if the person is clinically obese.
Semaglutide is a once-weekly injection that works by delaying the emptying of the stomach, which results in patients feeling fuller for longer and a decreased overall appetite.
The shots can trigger quite a lot of nasty uncomfortable side effects. Users commonly complain of nausea, vomiting, constipation and diarrhea.
In one study, some 15.8 percent of patients using Ozempic suffered nausea, 7.3 percent abdominal pain and eight.5 percent diarrhea.
In more serious cases, the drug has been shown to extend the danger of a paralyzed stomach, pancreatitis and bowel blockages.
Patients must stay on the medication for all times, and as they will regain any weight reduction in the event that they stop taking it.
The study was published within the journal JAMA Network.
