2024 - Sarcopenia: Changes and Challenges in Body Composition with GLP-1 Receptor Agonist-based Weight Loss Therapies

Recent trials of GLP-1 receptor agonist-based therapies using weight loss primary endpoints have shown remarkable efficacy that approaches that of bariatric surgery (~20–25 percent compared to 25–30 percent with bariatric surgery).
GLP-1 receptor agonist-based therapies have also shown compelling benefits on other obesity comorbidities such as glycaemic control in type 2 diabetes, cardiovascular disease risk, progression of chronic kidney disease, obstructive sleep apnea and metabolic-dysfunction associated steatotic liver disease.
Although changes in fat distribution from GLP-1 receptor agonist-based therapies are key to understanding many of the health outcome benefits, the impact of skeletal muscle loss on long-term health outcomes remains to be clarified. While skeletal muscle loss is not specific to GLP-1 receptor agonist-based therapies, the degree of weight loss compared to other anti-obesity medications (AOMs) has exposed the limitations of using weight change as a primary endpoint in clinical trials and has highlighted the need for including accurate measurements of changes in muscle mass and function in AOM clinical trials.
The evolving requirement for accurate assessment of body composition (BC) in clinical trials is further driven by:
The variability of changes in fat loss and BC changes to different GLP-1 receptor agonist-based therapies
The variable changes in BC of diverse ethnic and racial populations in response to GLP-1 receptor agonist-based therapies
The expansion of treatment populations by GLP-1 receptor agonist-based therapies to include adolescents with obesity
The development of new therapies aimed at preserving muscle mass and function
Understanding changes in regional adiposity such as pathogenic visceral adipose tissue, liver adipose tissue and epicardial adipose tissue
In this webinar, the speakers will review recent clinical trial data that represents the current state of scientific knowledge and evaluate the impact of the data on loss of muscle mass following GLP-1 receptor agonist-based therapies and the need for accurate and tailored assessments of BC in clinical trials.
Register for this webinar today to delve into the latest clinical trial data on GLP-1 receptor agonist-based therapies and their impact on weight loss and body composition.
Keywords: Obesity, Drug Development, Clinical Research, Clinical Data, Therapeutic Areas, Weight Loss, Body Composition, Fatty Liver, Sarcopenia, GLP-1 Agonist, GLP-1 Agonists, GLP-1 Drugs