Paediatric Conditions19 August 2026

GLP-1 drugs for adolescents with obesity

The drugs reshaping adult obesity care are approved for teenagers too. Their arrival has forced a rethink of how childhood obesity is treated, and raised questions trials cannot yet answer.

By NextGenHealth Editorial Team2 min read

Gloved hands drawing medicine from a vial with a syringe — Photo: National Cancer Institute / Unsplash

In brief

Semaglutide and liraglutide are approved for adolescents with obesity. The STEP TEENS results, AAP guidance and the long-term questions still open.

Liraglutide was approved for adolescents with obesity in the US in 2020, semaglutide in 2022.
In the STEP TEENS trial, semaglutide reduced BMI substantially more than placebo.
Long-term effects on growth, development and weight after stopping are still being studied.

Glucagon-like peptide-1 (GLP-1) receptor agonists act on appetite and satiety, and at higher doses produce substantial weight loss. They have changed adult obesity treatment. Adolescents have followed.

Approvals

In the US, liraglutide was approved for weight management in adolescents aged 12 and over with obesity in 2020. Semaglutide, given as a weekly injection, followed in 2022. European regulators have also approved both for adolescents.

The evidence

The STEP TEENS trial, published in 2022, tested weekly semaglutide alongside lifestyle intervention in adolescents with obesity. After 68 weeks, average body mass index fell by about 16 per cent in the semaglutide group, compared with a small increase in the placebo group. Gastrointestinal side effects such as nausea and vomiting were common.

A shift in guidance

In 2023 the American Academy of Pediatrics published its first comprehensive clinical practice guideline on childhood obesity. It recommended that clinicians offer adolescents aged 12 and older with obesity weight-loss medication as an adjunct to intensive lifestyle treatment, a notable departure from earlier approaches that emphasised watchful waiting.

What is still unknown

Duration. Adult data show that weight tends to return when treatment stops. For an adolescent, that raises the prospect of decades of treatment.
Development. Effects on growth, puberty, bone and the developing brain over the long term are being studied.
Eating behaviour. Clinicians are watching for effects on disordered eating, which is more common in adolescents with obesity.
Access. Cost and supply limit who receives the drugs, raising equity concerns in a condition that disproportionately affects disadvantaged children.

Paediatric trials of newer agents, including dual and triple hormone agonists, are under way.

Obesity
GLP-1 receptor agonists
Semaglutide
Adolescents

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