A tiny but quickly increasing proportion of American teenagers started taking Novo Nordisk’s NONOb.CO weight-loss medication Wegovy last year which is being considered a potent new tool to combat the nation’s record rates of paediatric obesity, as per statistics exclusively obtained by Reuters.

According to US insurance claims data provided by health technology company Komodo Health, 1,268 children diagnosed with obesity between the ages of 12 and 17 began taking Wegovy in the first ten months of 2023.

Only twenty-five children were administered the medication in 2022; it wasn’t until December of the same year that the United States approved it for use in adolescents. Within a month, the powerful American Academy of Paediatrics suggested that children who were obese, beginning at age 12, be given access to weight-loss medications.

Medicaid statistics from five states—Michigan, Minnesota, Wisconsin, and others—that Reuters was able to get demonstrate a comparable increase in Wegovy use. At least 464 youngsters have received prescriptions for the medication since January 2022, while the overall numbers are still low.

Prescriptions obtained without health insurance coverage and the off-label usage of Novo’s Ozempic and Eli Lilly’s Mounjaro, two comparable type 2 diabetic medicines, are not included in this.

Nevertheless, according to federal estimates, 14.7 million American children, or about 20% of the country’s youth, suffer from obesity.

However, the statistics show that families are becoming more open to using Wegovy, the first non-surgical, extremely effective treatment for obesity. Weekly injectable use can be quite expensive, and there is little information available on the long-term advantages and hazards.

“I use these medications wherever I can. Unlike with adults, where it’s like a rescue operation, we are much more likely with children and adolescents to prevent disease,” said Dr Suzanne Cuda, medical director of Alamo City Healthy Kids and Families in San Antonio, Texas. Cuda was an adviser to Novo Nordisk on pediatric obesity.

Numerous grave medical diseases, such as diabetes, heart disease, and cancer, have been associated with obesity.