Lack of Mandatory Obesity Drug Testing Raises Concerns Over Safety and Efficacy of Medications

Over 40% of Americans, who are considered obese, are receiving medications that are not tested on people with obesity, raising concerns about undertreatment and inaccurate dosing due to differences in drug absorption and distribution in the body.

Over-the-counter and prescribed medications are rarely tested on obese individuals despite 40% of American adults being classified as obese, leading to uncertain safety and efficacy.
The standard clinical trials and dosing instructions do not guarantee safety and effectiveness for obese people as they may respond differently to the drugs due to variable absorption and distribution.
Review of over 200 studies on new drugs in the U.S. found two-thirds fail to include weight or body mass index considerations, often excluding obese people from participation.
Due to the lack of thorough testing, drugs may become concentrated in fat tissues rather than the bloodstream in obese individuals, leading to under-treatment.
The FDA and NIH have started focusing on this issue, and the latter is encouraging researchers to consider the effect of excluding obese people from their studies.