NEWS FEATURE
04 January 2023
Correction 13 January 2023

The ‘breakthrough’ obesity drugs that have stunned researchers

A class of drugs that quash hunger have shown striking results in trials and in practice. But can they help all people with obesity — and conquer weight stigma?

McKenzie Prillaman⁰

McKenzie Prillaman
1. McKenzie Prillaman completed an internship with Nature in Washington DC.
View author publications

You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Conceptual illustration showing people jogging along a syringe. — Illustration by Karol Banach

Access through your institution

Buy or subscribe

The hotel ballroom was packed to near capacity with scientists when Susan Yanovski arrived. Despite being 10 minutes early, she had to manoeuvre her way to one of the few empty seats near the back. The audience at the ObesityWeek conference in San Diego, California, in November 2022, was waiting to hear the results of a hotly anticipated drug trial.

Access options

Access through your institution

Rent or buy this article

Get just this article for as long as you need it

$39.95

Learn more

Prices may be subject to local taxes which are calculated during checkout

Nature 613, 16-18 (2023)

doi: https://doi.org/10.1038/d41586-022-04505-7

Updates & Corrections

Correction 13 January 2023: This article has been clarified to reflect the fact that Jens Juul Holst was one of several scientists to discover and characterize GLP-1, alongside Joel Habener and Daniel Drucker.

References

Weghuber, D. et al. N. Engl. J. Med. 387, 2245–2257 (2022).
Article PubMed Google Scholar
Wilding, J. P. H. et al. N. Engl. J. Med. 384, 989–1002 (2021).
Article PubMed Google Scholar
Davies, M. et al. Lancet 397, 971–984 (2021).
Article PubMed Google Scholar
Zhang, Y. et al. Nature 372, 425–432 (1994).
Article PubMed Google Scholar
Holst, J. J., Ørskov, C., Vagn Nielsen, O. & Schwartz, T. W. FEBS Lett. 211, 169–174 (1987).
Article PubMed Google Scholar
Pi-Sunyer, X. et al. N. Engl. J. Med. 373, 11–22 (2015).
Article PubMed Google Scholar
Jastreboff, A. M. et al. N. Engl. J. Med. 387, 205–216 (2022).
Article PubMed Google Scholar
Miyawaki, K. et al. Nature Med. 8, 738–742 (2002).
Article PubMed Google Scholar
Urva, S. et al. Lancet 400, 1869–1881 (2022).
Article PubMed Google Scholar
Wilding, J. P. H. et al. Diabetes Obes. Metab. 24, 1553–1564 (2022).
Article PubMed Google Scholar
Tomiyama, A., Hunger, J., Nguyen-Cuu, J. & Wells, C. Int. J. Obes. 40, 883–886 (2016).
Article Google Scholar
Li, J. et al. PLoS ONE 16, e0253696 (2021).
Article PubMed Google Scholar