Weight-loss drugs like Ozempic don’t meaningfully improve quality of life, study of 100,000 patients finds

While millions of people worldwide are turning to blockbuster weight-loss drugs like Ozempic and Mounjaro, a new study suggests the perks might stop at the scale. According to research published in The BMJ, most of these medications fail to deliver broader, meaningful improvements to a patient’s quality of life after a year of use.

To reach these results, researchers analysed 262 clinical trials involving roughly 100,000 participants and 19 different medications. During the trials, participants filled out standardised questionnaires to track their well-being, and when researchers compared these scores against people making lifestyle changes alone, the drug groups didn’t show any clinically meaningful boosts in their quality-of-life scores.

“Most agents do not improve quality of life meaningfully and few show cardiovascular benefits,” the study authors noted. The researchers also found a clear trade-off: the more weight a drug helped someone lose, the more likely that person was to suffer from side effects or quit the treatment altogether.

Some drugs stood out for sheer weight-loss power. Tirzepatide, the active ingredient in Mounjaro and Zepbound, and cagrilintide-semaglutide combination CagriSema, which remains unapproved, topped the charts for the biggest weight drops, while subcutaneous semaglutide, used in Ozempic and Wegovy, showed the strongest evidence for reducing death rates and major heart issues.