Society Invites People Living with Obesity to Help Shape Upcoming Obesity CPG

By Maureen Corrigan, Director, Evidence Based Practice and Professional & Clinical Affairs

We’re delighted to report that the Endocrine Society is well underway in updating its Clinical Practice Guideline (CPG) on the pharmacological management of obesity. That highly anticipated CPG is scheduled for publication in late 2026.

As part of the development process, we recently invited a group of patient partners—people who have experience living with obesity—to share their perspectives, ideas, and values around treatment options.

More than 80 people  answered the call and took part in one of two listening sessions held by trained facilitators over four days in late January. Each 2.5-hour online session sought the patients’ experiences with various obesity treatments. The patient panels consisted of:

• People with current or recent (last five years) experience living with obesity, or providing support to someone living with obesity.
• People who have taken or considered GLP-1 medicines and/or had bariatric surgery.

Input gathered from these sessions will be carefully considered by the Endocrine Society’s guideline development panel as it prepares the final guideline recommendations for obesity treatment. The reports from these sessions will help ensure the CPG reflects what matters to the people affected by this chronic condition.

The updated CPG also will reflect the latest medical best practices and research, which together with the patient perspectives, will allow international healthcare professionals and patients to make informed decisions about obesity care. 

Need for Updated Obesity CPG

Our current CPG on this topic, Pharmacological Management of Obesity Guideline Resources, was released in 2016. Recent groundbreaking medical advancements, such as GLP-1 anti-obesity medications, a newly approved GLP-1 pill, as well as recent innovations in bariatric surgery and other approaches, are changing how patients and healthcare providers think about obesity treatment.

People with obesity need credible information to help them navigate the rapidly changing treatment landscape. The upcoming CPG will cover all the latest treatments for obesity, as it reflects this new understanding as well as patient perspectives.

This CPG, as with all others, will be based on the best available scientific evidence, and include reviews of hundreds of peer-reviewed research articles.  The guideline development panel will also consider contextual factors such as cost, accessibility, equity, and feasibility when developing the recommendation.

Part of Long Tradition in Advocating for Obesity Treatment

The Endocrine Society is dedicated to advancing obesity treatment. In addition to this new CPG, our work in this area includes: 

• We cosponsored, along with six other medical societies, the AMA’s House of Delegates resolution that recognized obesity as a chronic disease in 2013.
• Our members’ research led to the development of GLP-1 medications.
• We advocated for obesity treatment to be more accessible and for medications to be covered by insurance.