Breaking the Stigma Around Obesity and Weight Loss Medication According to a poll by evidence-based weight care platform Found, 33% of respondents said they wished they had access to prescription weight loss medications for weight loss
New York, NY
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November 22, 2022 07:00 AM Eastern Standard Time
There is a long history of stigma surrounding obesity and weight loss medications. When diet and exercise don’t lead to effective weight loss, sometimes it’s our biology that’s holding us back. Recently, Dr. Rekha Kumar, Head of Medical Affairs at Found, conducted a satellite media tour to talk about personalized weight loss and its benefits.
A video accompanying this announcement is available at: https://youtu.be/qUhnxU91uPY
Science shows that our biology can dictate up to 70% of weight gain, loss, and maintenance — yet the weight loss industry still reduces a person’s success to diet, exercise, and willpower. A variety of biological factors like genetics, hormones, metabolic rate and others contribute to our body’s “setpoint weight,” which is a certain weight that your body favors that is usually at the higher end of the scale. Your body wants to stay at this weight and fights hard to keep you there, and will even lower your metabolism or amp up your hunger signals to get back to your set point weight. Blaming obesity on a lack of willpower can take a psychological toll, causing people to feel shame, guilt, frustration or judgment, and fail to address biology as the core issue.
Why Prescription Medication for Weight Loss?
Obesity is a complicated disease that affects 40% of the US population, and it takes a personalized approach to each individual’s biology to treat it. Prescription medication can help people lose weight by fighting against their biology. Some medications work by suppressing appetite, and others work by curbing cravings. Weight loss medications have different mechanisms, and a doctor will have to evaluate if you're a good candidate for any of them. Not every medication is right for every person, and it’s common that if one doesn't work, a clinician might recommend trying a different medication.
Historically, clinical care pathways for obesity management have only been available for patients at premiere academic medical centers, and typically have long wait lists. The Found’s program addresses a clear gap in access to weight care: Today, more than 40% of Americans have obesity, and yet only 1% of physicians specialize in obesity medicine. The medications Found offers are supported by clinical evidence to be highly effective and safe for helping aid with weight loss.
Found has seen that members receiving medication plus behavior change support on the Found program have lost at least 13% more weight, and in some cases up to 229% more weight, than people receiving the same medication in clinical studies.
Found is the largest online weight care clinic in the country, helping more than 160,000 Americans with their weight loss journey to-date. Found offers 13 different medications that can be combined to create more than 60 different possible treatment paths, available through their Prescription Program, each uniquely paired to address a person's biological and medical history. Found’s wide toolkit of medications fundamentally helps to serve a broader audience than others in the space.
The Practice of Responsible Prescribing
Found-affiliated providers are trained in the Found treatment protocol, which looks at various factors to determine the medication that will be safest and most effective for a member’s individual needs.Found-affiliated practitioners prescribe both FDA-approved branded anti-obesity medications as well as off-label generic combinations when determined safe by the treating clinician. The medications prescribed are the same medications that are offered in premiere academic medical centers.Treatment through the Found platform expands access to obesity treatment by bypassing long waitlists for appointments and copays for visits at in-person clinics. Found-affiliated medical providers are expected to always provide treatment and care that is in the best interest of their patients.
For more information on Found’s weight care program, please visit joinfound.com
Bio for Dr. Rekha Kumar, M.D., M.S.
Dr. Rekha Kumar is recognized as an international leader in the field of Obesity Medicine. She is Head of Medical Affairs at weight care platform Found, as well as a practicing endocrinologist at an academic medical center in New York City. She also served as the former medical director of the American Board of Obesity Medicine. Dr. Kumar has lectured internationally on the topic of the medical assessment and treatment of obesity. She has published several papers and textbook chapters in her field and serves as an Associate Editor of the journal Obesity. She is frequently quoted in the media on topics ranging from the diabetes epidemic in the United States to discussing fad diets, exercise trends, and the complications of Covid-19 in patients with obesity. Dr. Kumar’s areas of expertise include the clinical assessment of patients with obesity and metabolic syndrome, the effect of obesity on reproductive health and fertility, and thyroid disease.
Dr. Kumar completed her undergraduate studies at Duke University then received her master’s degree in Physiology from Georgetown University. She continued on to receive her M.D. from New York Medical College and completed her residency training in Internal Medicine at the New York Presbyterian Hospital/Weill-Cornell Medical College. Dr. Kumar obtained her clinical fellowship in the combined Diabetes, Endocrinology, and Metabolism program at the Weill-Cornell Medical College/New York Presbyterian Hospital and the Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center.
Dr. Kumar has traveled abroad to India, China, and Tanzania to understand the scope of metabolic disease globally. She serves on the board of advisors of the Duke Global Health Institute. Dr. Kumar is Board Certified in Internal Medicine, Endocrinology, Diabetes, & Metabolism, and Obesity Medicine.
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