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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?
  1. McKenzie Prillaman

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

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Conceptual illustration showing people jogging along a syringe.

Illustration by Karol Banach

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.

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Nature 613, 16-18 (2023)

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

Updates & Corrections

  • Clarification 20 September 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.

  • Clarification 20 September 2023: The previous correction for this article neglected to name Svetlana Mojsov as one of the key scientists who discovered and characterized GLP-1.

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