Weight loss drugs could help people with schizophrenia

Antipsychotic medications can be transformative for people with schizophrenia, but they come with side effects.

Weight gain and metabolic dysfunction are common, and contribute to people with schizophrenia having a higher mortality than the rest of the population.

A trial out of Queensland has looked at whether semaglutide might help address this weight gain, making antipsychotic medications more tolerable.

Guest/s

• Professor Dan Siskind, psychiatrist at the University of Queensland and metro south health

References

• Efficacy and safety of semaglutide versus placebo for people with schizophrenia on clozapine with obesity (COaST): a phase 2, multi-centre, participant and investigator- blinded, randomised controlled trial in Australia