Approved uses
What these medications
are approved to treat.
GLP-1 medications started as a diabetes treatment and are now approved for considerably more than that. Each page below explains what the condition is first, then what these medications do about it.
FDA-approved
Type 2 Diabetes
What type 2 diabetes actually is, and what these medications do about blood sugar.
FDA-approved
Obesity and Weight
Why body weight is defended, and where the weight effect of these medications comes from.
FDA-approved for some products
Heart Disease
What cardiovascular risk means here, and what the outcome trials actually showed.
FDA-approved for some products
Sleep Apnea
What obstructive sleep apnea is, and why weight loss changes it.
FDA-approved for some products
Fatty Liver Disease
What fat in the liver does over time, and where the evidence currently stands.
FDA-approved for some products
Chronic Kidney Disease
How kidney function is measured, and what these medications change about its decline.
Approved, and not yet approved
Everything on this page is an FDA-approved use, and we say which products carry it where that matters. GLP-1 medications are also being studied for conditions they are not approved for, including PCOS and addictive behaviors. We have kept those off this page deliberately, because the difference between an approved use and an area of research is the thing most worth being clear about.
Approval also moves. Our news and law tracking follows FDA decisions as they happen.