Paul Hickey, President and CEO of ReShape Lifesciences, discusses the company's role in the weight loss industry. The ReShape Lap-Band® and the new ReShape Lap-Band® 2.0 FLEX are tested surgical options for weight loss and weight management and are now being joined in the market by GLP-1 agonists such as Wegovy and Ozempic. While these options are effective for different individuals, Paul emphasizes the importance of a comprehensive approach that includes diet and lifestyle changes. As a society, we have normalized obesity, and more education is needed to inform those with obesity about these effective solutions. 

Paul explains, "The weight loss drugs people have been hearing about are the first step for weight loss, along with working with your physician and their team. And then as you move down, the more aggressive treatment, the ReShape products, and in particular the Lap-Band®, which has been around for over 20 years, is the first surgical step performed by a laparoscopic surgeon that goes in and helps to provide for a way to get back on the weight loss path for individuals. And then, beyond that, you have other procedures that are more aggressive that people also have to consider as they continue their journey."

"We see physicians today using the GLP-1s as combination therapy for someone who has a Lap-Band® or a gastric sleeve or a gastric bypass who may have had any one of those procedures, including a Lap-Band® for five or ten years and started to plateau or reverse on their weight loss. Those GLP-1s can be administered and prescribed for those who want to get back on the path to weight loss."

"There are a lot of differences in the type of obesity that someone has. There are a lot of differences in what treatments work better or worse for individuals. I think the side effect, part of the answer to the question is with the GLP-1s, there's going to be probably more studies to come out to show what side effects the GLP-1s have on different population sets. It is certainly being studied today, and the data out there now is part of the data used to get the drugs approved."

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