Weight loss medication just became much more accessible for so many in the form of Zepbound; a medication that has been used to treat diabetes under the name Mounjaro, but was FDA-approved for weight loss just days ago.
There is plenty to know about Zepbound, and its effects on the world of obesity healthcare and accessibility are going to be monumental. So in this episode, I explore some important questions that consumers will need to know, such as who Zepbound is indicated for, who might benefit from considering Zepbound, what the transition from Semaglutide to Tirzepatide can look like, and more. As always, I am sharing my perspective on this new development as a physician, and I am offering no medical advice on this podcast. If you have questions about whether Zepbound might be right for you, I encourage you to discuss it with your physician.
I’m here to introduce you to Zepbound, explain to you the difference between Semaglutide and Tirzepatide, and share with you from a Physician’s perspective how this newly approved medication is revolutionizing the world of metabolic health. So if you want to know more, tune in!
If you have to ask the question, “How can I convince my doctor that this medication is for me?” then the reality is that that doctor doesn't believe that obesity is a chronic medical condition. - Matthea Rentea MD
You shouldn't have to prove your worthiness for you to get treated for this medical condition that we know often leads to a lot of other serious medical issues. - Matthea Rentea MD
If your BMI has come down, it doesn't mean that you don't still need treatment. - Matthea Rentea MD
Not all medications are going to work for you, but some people that did not respond to Wegovy might actually do amazing moving over to a medication like Zepbound. - Matthea Rentea MD
If you're someone that's really having a lot of challenges and side effects with the medication you're on, that is definitely a reason I would look at moving over to Zepbound. - Matthea Rentea MD
Audio Stamps
00:45 - Dr. Rentea explains to us what Zepbound is, what makes it different from other weight loss medications, and why it has been such a big topic of conversation in recent weeks
04:02 - We learn who Zepbound is indicated for
06:52 - Dr. Rentea shares what potential factors to look for that might mean that Zepbound is the right medication for you, and what the process looks like when changing between different GLP 1 medications
All of the information on this podcast is for general informational purposes only. Please talk to your physician and medical team about what is right for you. No medical advice is being on this podcast.
If you live in Indiana or Illinois and want to work with doctor Matthea Rentea, you can find out more on www.RenteaClinic.com
Weight loss medication just became much more accessible for so many in the form of Zepbound; a medication that has been used to treat diabetes under the name Mounjaro, but was FDA-approved for weight loss just days ago.
There is plenty to know about Zepbound, and its effects on the world of obesity healthcare and accessibility are going to be monumental. So in this episode, I explore some important questions that consumers will need to know, such as who Zepbound is indicated for, who might benefit from considering Zepbound, what the transition from Semaglutide to Tirzepatide can look like, and more. As always, I am sharing my perspective on this new development as a physician, and I am offering no medical advice on this podcast. If you have questions about whether Zepbound might be right for you, I encourage you to discuss it with your physician.
I’m here to introduce you to Zepbound, explain to you the difference between Semaglutide and Tirzepatide, and share with you from a Physician’s perspective how this newly approved medication is revolutionizing the world of metabolic health. So if you want to know more, tune in!
If you have to ask the question, “How can I convince my doctor that this medication is for me?” then the reality is that that doctor doesn't believe that obesity is a chronic medical condition. - Matthea Rentea MD
You shouldn't have to prove your worthiness for you to get treated for this medical condition that we know often leads to a lot of other serious medical issues. - Matthea Rentea MD
If your BMI has come down, it doesn't mean that you don't still need treatment. - Matthea Rentea MD
Not all medications are going to work for you, but some people that did not respond to Wegovy might actually do amazing moving over to a medication like Zepbound. - Matthea Rentea MD
If you're someone that's really having a lot of challenges and side effects with the medication you're on, that is definitely a reason I would look at moving over to Zepbound. - Matthea Rentea MD
Audio Stamps
00:45 - Dr. Rentea explains to us what Zepbound is, what makes it different from other weight loss medications, and why it has been such a big topic of conversation in recent weeks
04:02 - We learn who Zepbound is indicated for
06:52 - Dr. Rentea shares what potential factors to look for that might mean that Zepbound is the right medication for you, and what the process looks like when changing between different GLP 1 medications
All of the information on this podcast is for general informational purposes only. Please talk to your physician and medical team about what is right for you. No medical advice is being on this podcast.
If you live in Indiana or Illinois and want to work with doctor Matthea Rentea, you can find out more on www.RenteaClinic.com
Welcome back to another episode of the podcast. Today we're going to talk about something that I feel has been just breaking the internet recently. And so it is time that we just give it a little bit of air time on this podcast and that is the new medication Zep Bound that is spelled Z E P B O U N D. So ZepBound is the exact same medication as the one that's been out this whole time called Mounjaro. The other name for that is Tirzepatide. Again, all the same thing, except ZepBound has just recently been FDA approved for the weight management indication. So for the past year and a half, we've been using Menjaro again, which is Trezepatide. I want to keep saying these names so that everyone's familiar with all of them. We've been using it for a year and a half off label because we knew from that original study for diabetes, we knew that there was a massive weight loss percent over 20 percent and compared to what we had had available prior, we knew that it was a great medication already for weight management. And now another study just came out that got the FDA approval. And so now they rebranded the name so that it's approved for weight management indications. Again, same medication. So what is unique about ZepBound compared to, let's just say, classically ozempic that everyone talks about. So ZepBound, like ozempic, they are both GLP 1 agonists. But then the other thing that ZepBound has that Ozempic does not, is it has a second gut hormone function called GIP, gastrointestinal protein. And so you end up getting two things that it's working on. And these medications, they're not just working by slowing down stomach motility, how fast stuff's moving through, and that you feel that you feel full sooner. That's one thing that it does, but really the thing I want you to think about is that's really going and acting centrally in the brain and something called the hypothalamus, and that's helping you to regulate your satiety. It is helping with things that we have never been able to target before, and this is why when people go on these medications, they will describe instantly. that their food chatter is down. So food chatter, I've talked about before, it's this constant track that's What am I going to eat? When am I going to eat? You might have just had a bunch of candy and you're thinking, Oh, what else can I have? Let me go get a second portion. You might have just had lunch. You're already thinking about dinner. And it's not, you know, it's human to think about food, right? Like I don't, I always get this argument like, Isn't this human? This is disorder that we're turning it off. No, if you're someone where it literally consumes your life, you're having to put exponential amounts of energy into managing things so that you can literally just care about the food that you're eating. That, that's the level that we're talking at. So these medications, again, GLP 1 agonist and a GIP function. So two things. And what's unique about Zep Bound compared to Ozempic is that the weight loss potential is higher. So I'm going to give you an example. With Ozempic, again, that's semi glutide. You might see an average weight loss total percentage of about 15%, 1. 5. And when you're looking at ZEP bound, it is over 20%, 2. 0. This is really unique because the, these are numbers that we just have not seen in the past, let's say decade within obesity medicine. So for example, a lot of the oral generics that we have. Maybe they can get up to 10 percent on a good day as far as weight loss, but they just have not been able to give this high percentage. This is significant because a lot of the time you can achieve almost the type of results that you would see with a bariatric surgery where you're literally going under the knife. You can potentially see those same things change with this medication. So who is it indicated for? It has the same indication as other GLP 1 medication, so for example, if your body mass index is 27 or above with medical comorbidities, meaning things like high blood pressure, cholesterol being up, diabetes, so meaning even though the BMI is 27 up to 30, you have other things that are going on as well that say that there might be some metabolic derangement happening. Or your BMI is 30 and above period without anything else going on. And the one thing I really want to stress here, I really hear this online. People will say, how do I convince my general practitioner that their BMI is, let's say, 36, but there's nothing else health wise going on for them? They say, how can I convince my doctor that this medication is for me. And the reality is this, that doctor doesn't believe then that obesity is a chronic medical condition because you shouldn't have to prove your worthiness anymore that, that look, I'm already sick for you to treat this thing that's a medical condition that we know often leads to a lot of other things. I would really recommend in those scenarios, if that doctor is not comfortable with this class of medication, I just, I can't tell you how often I hear physicians that. are not embracing 20 years worth of data from GLP 1s at this point, and they still say, and I, I literally just read this the other day on a, a really big doctor Facebook group that I'm in, and someone said, am I the only one that's skeptical of this and thinks, oh, we're going to look back and think, oh, that day when we were prescribing this or that. And I'm thinking, I know all the time things come out over time that that's completely possibly going to happen. But there's also the reality of, Weight stigma and bias where you don't ever give someone a fighting chance to be able to And so if you have a physician that doesn't want to write this medication for you, that's fine. They might not be comfortable, but then I would encourage you to find a weight management specialist such as myself. Often they have the Obesity Medicine Board Certification. That's A B O M, americanboardofobesitymedicine. org. You can look there and you can see, is your doctor actually, having that additional training to be comfortable in this medicine, in this type of medicine. Okay. So if your BMI is 27 and above with medical problems or 30 and above period. Now, the other thing I want to stress is this. Some people might ask, well, I used another medication. Now I'm under that the way I really look at it. And this is again, hopefully your insurance doesn't fight this, but. wherever your weight was at its highest, that is always where your body wants to come back to. And so it's really your starting BMI that we look at. And again, hopefully your physician, or if you see a new physician is actually verifying what that was for you. But again, it's not that if your BMI now has come down, it doesn't mean that you don't still need treatment. So I just wanted to answer that question. Okay, so why would we use this medication instead of other ones that we have? The weight loss percentage, I'm just going to come to a classic. So if you think about Ozempic, which is the same thing as Wegovy and that is semaglutide, that leads to on average about a 15 percent total body weight loss, 1. 5. And when you look at ZepBound, which again is the same thing as Menjaro, it's terzepatide. I'm just saying all these names again and again, so we all know what they are. If you look at ZepBound, it is over 20%, 2 0, over 20 percent total body weight loss. This is significant, because again, this is really starting to almost be on par with if you have a bariatric surgery. So this is really... Amazing, if we look back at the past, again, maybe we were reaching a 10 percent weight loss with some of the oral generic medications. So the weight loss percentage is really significant on this. Now, one of the questions that I get often is, or at least that my patients have been asking, is do I need to start the titration over again. So let's say that. You are on maybe Wigovi or ozempic or you are on maybe a compounded semaglutide and you know the actual milligram dose that you're on And then you think, well, do I have to entirely start over if I'm now going to a new medication such as ZepBound? And again, always talk to your doctor about what is right for you. But if you have continuous use, meaning there's no gap in treatment, so from one week you take the old medication and the next week you take the new one, the way that I've always done it as an obesity medicine physician, I come over to an equivalent dose and I drop it down one dose. And the reason I bring it over and then drop it down one, it's because whenever you switch medication, the other one might be more powerful. So this is the same thing, for example, like when you are switching pain medication or doing other things, or for example, like types of insulin, things like that. You don't know if what you're switching over to, if the person's going to respond more. And with things like this, it's always. A better idea maybe for some pounds to come back on or maybe you're a little bit more hungry for a month but that is better than you going on a dose that's too high and Vomiting ending up in the ER really having serious consequences happen and so no, I don't start the titration over but i'm definitely cautious to Really look at where i'm starting people and I have a really lengthy conversation So some of my patients, we already know that we're going to be making this change next month. So we already now have started to kind of get our ducks in a row and decide This is likely what we're going to do if we talk next month and that all of the same information holds This is likely where we would start. Okay, so that's you know, if you have to start over So the answer is a lot of people know The other answer is Who should really move over? Or who could move over? Let me not use the word should. First of all, no one needs to change anything. If what you're doing is working great, you definitely don't need to make a change. The people that I really think about it are, number one, one of the main groups, it's people that have actually stalled. So, for example, they are at the max amount of Wagovi or Ozempic. Maybe their insurance is even covering those things. things and they've been on it a while, they're doing all the things. They're drinking the water, they're eating the protein, they're getting fiber in, they're moving. They have really optimized everything and their body month after month is just not releasing anything anymore. And when we calculate the percentage, maybe they're close to that percentage where we just see, yeah, maybe that's as much as their body is willing to release with that medication. So in that scenario, if that's the case, then I think that it makes sense to be able to move over to ZepBound. The other type of group that I think about, sometimes you have people that are just really not responding great to what's out there. So, for example, I have people where they'll be on Wagovi. Again, Wagovi is semi glutide. And they just, they're hardly losing a pound per month. And again, they're doing all the things. They just don't feel any of the effects that everyone else is feeling. I think if you look at the data, that's almost about 5 percent of people. And I think we don't talk about this enough because Again, everyone's always shamed. And the thing is, not all medication works for everyone. By the way, same thing with ZepBound. And I know this because I've been writing for a year and a half to say medication. I can think of a few patients in my mind where they just felt nothing, even with going up and up and up on the dose. And so again, not all medications are going to work for you, but some people that did not respond to Wagovi might actually do amazing moving over to a medication like ZepBound. The other reason I would look at possibly switching over is if you're someone that's actually always had a lot of challenges on the medication you're on. What's interesting is these medications are all roughly part of the same class, but people respond differently to different medications. So I want to give you an example. Some people. get horrendously constipated on Wigovy, but when they're on this other medication, they just find that their bowel habits are regulated a little bit better or they find less food noise. There's just aspects where they find I just did so much better when I was on that compared to this other one. And so if you're someone that's really having a lot of challenges side effect wise with the medication you're on, That is definitely a reason I would look to move over. the last kind of big one that I thought of, I'm sure there's like a million more, but it's just from a coverage standpoint. So there are a lot of When I say coverage, not only affordability, if, if your insurance covers it, it being a good option, but also from a standpoint. So from a coverage standpoint, not only affordability, if your insurance maybe covers this and they Did it cover something else that you've been doing cash pay? For example, some people have been doing cash pay manjaro Monthly, which can be in excess of a thousand dollars a month And so it's actually more cost saving even if their insurance doesn't cover it with the ZEP bound coupon It is actually cheaper for them about half the price to come over to that in the future compared to staying on the other thing that I think about is from, from a coverage standpoint, as far as there may be potentially, I don't know how well their supply is going to be, but there are so many shortages for so many other things that maybe the supply will be a little better for this. So again, these are all unknowns that we're going to have to see. But if the coverage is a little better right now, there's a lot of people that. So, again, I think there are a lot of reasons why ZepFound is going to be a really popular option. This is what I would say. It's number one, it's not out right now. It's not out yet. We kind of pushed another episode to get this one out. You are listening to this probably right at the end of November here. It is only going to be out as of December time. I'm not going to say an exact date, I've heard one, but again, you just never really know for sure. And the challenge is this, when it's not physically at the pharmacy, there's nothing to send a prescription for. So, no, I don't think your doctor should be sending in a prescription right now. The other thing that's always funny, when a new medication gets approved, it takes time to make it into the electronic medical record of doctors. So when we type a name of a medication, even me that has... a small independent clinic, I still am using an electronic medical record, right? And so these things need to make their way into the record system. Now you can do like a free form medication and just write what you want, but again, it's not even going to go anywhere because it's going to a pharmacy that doesn't have it right now. I think your best strategy is to see from your doctor, is this an option for you? Start to have that conversation over the next few weeks here so that you can figure out. Is this covered for me, or not even is it covered for you because the formularies might not be updated, but just to understand, would this even be an option for me? Should I move over or what I'm on, is it already doing great? Because again, everyone doesn't need to go over to this. I know it's always like, oh, new, better, you know, things like that. And this is the, even as of the past year and a half, this is the medicine that everyone's always wanted just because we just know that the weight loss percentages are higher and people feel so much better on and it can be so much more effective if someone really struggles with a very resistant obesity. But realize not everybody needs to switch over. So I would have that conversation with your doctor. You don't need to be in a position where it's Mid to end December and you're writing them in to send it in and they aren't even aware of well We haven't talked to you in a few months So we don't know where your weight is at and we don't know how you're doing and we need to do an appointment first I would say really this might be the time to talk to your doctor so that the minute it's out They can just send the prescription. No problem. I this whole past month since we got this news I've been talking all of my patients, We meet once a month on video visit and just really checking in Is this an appropriate option? We already have decided likely what we would go over to how we're going to do that. So there's a process in place for you. All right, let me know if you have questions, but hopefully this answered a few of them. And I'm always open to answering anything else you can think of. Have a great rest of the week.