Phase 4Not yet recruiting
Tapered Versus Abrupt Discontinuation of Semaglutide After Treatment of Recurrent Weight Gain or Suboptimal Response Following Metabolic and Bariatric Surgery
Tapered Versus Abrupt Discontinuation of Semaglutide After Treatment of Recurrent Weight Gain or Suboptimal Response Following Metabolic and Bariatric Surgery: a Randomized, Double-blind Trial
- Sponsor
- General Committee of Teaching Hospitals and Institutes, Egypt (Government)
- Enrolment
- 100 planned
- Conditions
- Morbid Obesity
- Interventions
- Semaglutide weekly injection; Placebo
- Ages
- adults, older adults
- Registry
- NCT07859176
Full record on ClinicalTrials.gov
From the registry
Every course of obesity pharmacotherapy ends. Cost, supply, pregnancy plans, side effects, or the patient's own wish. In Egypt, cost alone makes discontinuation the rule, not the exception. Yet the entire evidence base describes what happens when the drug stops, and none of it tests how to stop. Abrupt withdrawal fails predictably. One year after stopping semaglutide, STEP 1 extension participants had regained two thirds of their lost weight. SURMOUNT-4 showed the same pattern after tirzepatide withdrawal, and meta-analysis confirms it across agents. After MBS specifically, stopping GLP-1 therapy is likewise followed by regain. The guidelines say: do not stop at all. The 2026 ADA and Obesity Association Standards strongly recommend continuing medication through maintenance, and the 2024 IFSO consensus agrees that when medication is needed to hold the benefit after MBS, ongoing treatment is probably necessary, while stating, at 94% agreement, that intermittent therapy and dose-reduction strategies require research. Our patients cannot follow the first recommendation. Cost decides…
Primary outcomes
- Percentage change in body weight
History
Primary completion expected
Expected to start
Registered