One of the downsides of taking new anti-obesity medications is that patients tend to lose lean muscle mass along with body fat. "This is a major shortcoming in terms of not just quality of life for the patients who have to lose lean muscle mass, but there's actually room to improve on the weight loss and there [are] other metabolic benefits to improving your lean muscle mass ... [including] you might have better durability of weight loss." The drug is being tested in a phase 2b study alongside semaglutide to protect against loss of muscle mass. Until then, patients will need to watch what they eat and focus on exercise just as they would on any other weight loss regimen. When that occurs, muscle loss will be an even bigger issue than it is now.

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Persons: Piper Sandler, Allison Bratzel, there's, Bratzel, Versanis, Eli Lilly, Eli Lilly's Mounjaro, they're, Lydia Alexander, Alexander, Sandler's Bratzel, incretins, Biohaven, Nestle, Ulf Mark Schneider, Jeff Jonas, Jonas, Stephens, Jim Salera, Atkins, Morgan Stanley, — CNBC's Michael Bloom Organizations: Wall, Nordisk's Ozempic, Obesity Medicine Association, Bristol Myers Squibb, Nestle, Gabelli, Quest, Foods Locations: Swiss