Prescriptions for weight-loss drugs for children and teens increased sevenfold between October 2022 and September 2024, according to a MedPage Today analysis. Some pediatricians praised the drugs, but others who spoke to The Defender said the drugs put kids and teens at serious risk.

The number of weight-loss drug prescriptions provided by pediatric and adolescent medical specialists for children and teens increased sevenfold between October 2022 and September 2024, according to a MedPage Today analysis of Symphony, a prescription drug database.

Prescriptions for Novo Nordisk’s drugs liraglutide, the generic name for Saxenda, and semaglutide, the generic name for Wegovy and Ozempic, rose from 3,448 to 24,435 in the U.S. during that time.

Total prescriptions for all GLP-1 receptor agonist drugs — the broader class of drugs they are part of — prescribed by pediatric and adolescent medicine specialists, more than doubled during the same period, from 59,868 to 125,538.