Current and emerging medications for the management of obesity in adults

Inglis, Joshua M; Kichenadasse, Ganessan; Mangoni, Arduino A

doi:10.5694/mja2.52028

Topics

Nutritional and metabolic diseases

Pharmaceutical preparations

Endocrine system diseases

Neoplasms

To the Editor: We congratulate Walmsley and Sumithran1 for their excellent review on medications for the management of obesity in adults. We also wish to highlight a safety signal for thyroid cancer with glucagon‐like peptide 1 (GLP‐1) receptor agonists, which is a relevant issue to prescribers given the widespread use of these agents for obesity.

1 Flinders Medical Centre, Adelaide, SA
2 Flinders University, Adelaide, SA
3 University of Adelaide, Adelaide, SA

Correspondence: joshua.inglis@flinders.edu.au

Competing interests:

No relevant disclosures.

1. Walmsley R, Sumithran P. Current and emerging medications for the management of obesity in adults. Med J Aust 2023; 218: 276‐283. https://www.mja.com.au/journal/2023/218/6/current‐and‐emerging‐medications‐management‐obesity‐adults#:~:text=Five%20agents%20are%20currently%20approved,receptor%20agonists%20liraglutide%20and%20semaglutide
2. Smits MM, Van Raalte DH. Safety of semaglutide. Front Endocrinol (Lausanne) 2021; 12: 645563.
3. Abd El Aziz M, Cahyadi O, Meier JJ, et al. Incretin‐based glucose‐lowering medications and the risk of acute pancreatitis and malignancies: a meta‐analysis based on cardiovascular outcomes trials. Diabetes Obes Metab 2020; 22: 699‐704.
4. Bezin J, Gouverneur A, Pénichon M, et al. GLP‐1 receptor agonists and the risk of thyroid cancer. Diabetes Care 2023; 46: 384‐390.
5. Thompson CA, Stürmer T. Putting GLP‐1 RAs and thyroid cancer in context: additional evidence and remaining doubts. Diabetes Care 2022; 46: 249‐251.

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