Over the previous few years, GLP-1 medicines like Ozempic and Wegovy have reshaped the dialog round weight reduction and metabolic well being. For a lot of, these medicines have been life-changing. But, regardless of their transformative potential, a troubling sample has emerged. Many sufferers are discovering that they’re being prescribed medicines with out bearing in mind their totally different metabolisms and wishes. This one-size-fits-all method is failing sufferers, and the results are not possible to disregard.
The standardization lure
The statistics say all of it: half of U.S. sufferers utilizing GLP-1s for weight problems care discontinued use throughout the first 12 months, with most regaining the burden throughout the following 12 months. This isn’t merely a matter of affected person compliance. It’s a predictable final result of inflexible practices and constrained healthcare programs that put sufferers on normal doses, no matter their particular person wants or response to treatment.
This one-size-fits-all method, developed by massive pharmaceutical firms, assumes that what works for the common affected person in medical trials will work for everybody. In actuality, particular person variations in metabolism, physique composition, and medicine sensitivities imply that many sufferers are pushed to doses larger than they could really need in an effort to see outcomes.
This normal dosing method creates a double burden for sufferers. Unnecessarily excessive doses of a weight reduction treatment improve the probability of antagonistic unwanted effects – fatigue, complications, and mostly, gastrointestinal points that plague 40-70% of GLP-1 customers. These signs usually turn out to be so insupportable, that sufferers merely stop therapy.
Even those that can tolerate the unwanted effects face the opposite barrier: value. GLP-1 medicines are among the many costliest prescriptions, and sufferers usually find yourself paying premium costs for doses that could be extreme for his or her wants. For these with out dependable insurance coverage protection, this creates an not possible monetary burden that usually forces them to discontinue therapy simply because the treatment begins working. In actual fact, of 3000 US adults who use GLP-1s, 45% reported discontinuing their treatment, naming value and insurance coverage limitations as the first motive.
This isn’t simply inefficient, it’s backwards. Present protocols ignore particular person variation, and generally suppliers wouldn’t have the capability to take care of every affected person attributable to constraints within the present healthcare system.
Beginning small, scaling good: The case for individualized dosing
Microdosing, or beginning with a dose under the usual and progressively growing based mostly on the affected person’s response, marks a transfer away from one-size-fits-all protocols towards personalised drugs. The aim isn’t reaching a hard and fast dose, however working with every affected person’s optimum therapy plan and schedule.
What began as early discussions in late 2024 has rapidly gained traction, with the microdosing being mainstream sufficient that some telehealth firms have even begun constructing out devoted applications round it. Microdosing just isn’t a shortcut or a pattern – it’s a shift in direction of a extra adaptable, patient-focused technique of care.
A 2025 survey discovered that 36% of GLP-1 weight reduction customers are presently microdosing their treatment with out medical supervision, whereas an extra 32% have tried it previously. Their motivations reveal the core issues with normal prescribing: 66% did it to cut back unwanted effects, whereas 38% did it to make it financially sustainable.
This method turns into significantly worthwhile on condition that GLP-1 medicines provide advantages past weight reduction. Research have proven diminished irritation, decrease cardiovascular threat, and even attainable neuroprotective advantages – and lots of of those aren’t strictly dose-dependent. Sufferers should see significant well being positive aspects at decrease doses, particularly with constant use over time.
Navigating uncharted territory
As microdosing positive aspects recognition, the crucial query stays: how can sufferers and suppliers method the apply responsibly? Regardless of its many advantages, microdosing introduces variables, equivalent to dosing inconsistencies and elevated complexity in monitoring responses, requiring extra medical oversight and structured protocols.
The reply lies in structured medical tips that emphasize monitoring outcomes and tailoring care to the person. As an alternative of asking “what dose is normal for this treatment,” suppliers ought to ask “what dose does this affected person require?” Achieved accurately, this technique calls for higher medical supervision, not much less.
Sufferers experimenting in isolation or counting on unverified on-line recommendation threat their security and success. As an alternative, this method requires shut supervision much like different medicines, with oversight from physicians who perceive its advantages and the particular wants concerned.
From one-size-fits-all to patient-centered care
GLP-1 medicines are right here to remain. But when we would like them to achieve their full potential, we have to evolve the best way we prescribe, dose, and help sufferers. Microdosing isn’t about chasing a pattern. It’s about increasing our therapy toolkit to mirror what sufferers want: a sustainable, accessible, and personalised method.
Microdosing received’t be the proper selection for everybody. However for a lot of sufferers, it’s already proving to be the distinction between quitting weight problems therapy early and making lasting progress. With extra analysis and medical oversight, microdosing might turn out to be a cornerstone not simply in weight problems care, however in how we handle persistent, advanced situations extra broadly.
Picture: Peter Dazeley, Getty Photographs
Dr. Myra Ahmad, founder and CEO of Mochi Well being, is devoted to revolutionizing weight problems care by offering sufferers with accessible, evidence-based weight administration applications. Pushed to attenuate healthcare disparities and supplier biases, she champions personalised, holistic care that empowers sufferers.
Dr. Ahmad obtained her MD from the College of Washington College of Medication, and has held analysis positions on the MIT Koch Institute for Integrative Most cancers Analysis, UCSF Medical Heart, and College of California, San Francisco.
This submit seems by the MedCity Influencers program. Anybody can publish their perspective on enterprise and innovation in healthcare on MedCity Information by MedCity Influencers. Click on right here to learn how.
