[Pharmacotherapy of obesity in Germany]

Pharmacotherapy is part of a comprehensive guideline-conform treatment concept for people with obesity. The foundation of obesity treatment is initially a conservative multimodal basic treatment and consists of a low-energy diet, increased physical activity and behavioral changes. If the individual treatment goals are not achieved with this approach, medications can support the basic treatment. The concept is that drugs should not only achieve weight reduction and stabilization of the reduced body weight but also provide better long-term treatment for the chronic multisystem disease obesity. The incretin-based pharmacotherapy with liraglutide, semaglutide and tirzepatide, which have been introduced in recent years, have not only pronounced weight-reducing but also beneficial cardiometabolic effects. These include improvements in obesity-related comorbidities, such as type 2 diabetes, hypertension, fatty liver disease, obstructive sleep apnea, cardiovascular risk factors, chronic kidney disease and others. In contrast, incretin-based pharmacotherapy is typically associated with mild to moderate gastrointestinal side effects. With the marketing launch of setmelanotide, a medication became available for the treatment of rare monogenic forms of obesity. In addition, numerous incretin-based active agents and new substance classes are in advanced phases of clinical development. Due to their favorable efficacy and side effect profiles and also with respect to the positive cardiometabolic effects, the new drugs have the potential to significantly increase the importance of pharmacotherapy of obesity in Germany.