PCOS, weight reduction and liraglutide

Metformin has may favourable effects in the treatment of PCOS  but its effect on weight reduction is often unsatisfactory. It is now recognised that weight loss substantially improves reproductive and metabolic profile of obese patients with PCOS, hence an alternative approach in poor responders regarding weight reduction should be of major importance in clinical intervention.

Sever et al. therefore conducted a study on 40 obese women with PCOs , to investigate the effects of glucagon-like peptide-1 receptor agonist liraglutide on weight loss in those who had lost <5% body weight during pretreatment with metformin.

Their study shows that 12-week combined treatment with liraglutide and metformin was associated with significant weight loss and decrease in waist circumference in subjects who had previously been poor responders regarding weight reduction on metformin monotherapy. The study is also the first to imply that obese women with PCOS who have not responded to standard weight loss strategies and metformin treatment might benefit from short-term intervention with liraglutide as an add-on therapy to metformin.

Read the full article at Sever et al. (2014) European Journal of Endocrinology 170; 451-459; DOI: 10.1530/EJE-13-0797