The tide has turned to a greater focus on medical weight loss programs, many of which are now using the new obesity drugs. The big story of 2022 has been the soaring demand for new drugs such as Wegovy, Ozempic, and Saxenda, with more new drugs coming soon.
The market may be entering a new era focused on medical approaches, as more physicians and other medical professionals add weight loss services to their practice. This includes nurses, dieticians, certified health coaches, and OB/GYNs. The 108 million Americans that are obese are prime candidates for medically supervised weight loss programs, due to their more serious conditions such as diabetes.
Top 6 Things to Know About the U.S. Medical Weight Loss Market
- The value of the U.S. medical weight loss market is estimated to have grown 17% during 2022, to $8.8 billion, recovering ground lost to the pandemic and fueled by a near doubling of obesity drug sales. Another 10% gain is forecast for 2023.
- The market may be entering a new era focused on medical approaches, as a new generation of prescription obesity drugs from Novo Nordisk, Eli Lilly, and others hit the market. Even Weight Watchers now provides a medical plan. The prescription obesity drugs market nearly doubled to $1.56 billion in 2022, due to the high demand for new semaglutide drugs.
- The weight loss surgery market is valued at $5.7 billion, slated to grow to $8.5 billion by 2027. This will involve 340,000 yearly procedures.
- Hospitals have had a mixed record with weight loss programs (excluding surgery). Only 28% of the nation’s 4,000 community hospitals provide some form of weight loss program – 1,150 hospitals.
- Medical weight loss programs represented 11.7% of the total $75.5 billion U.S. weight loss market in 2022, and this share is forecast to rise to 13.4% by 2027.
- Medical weight loss franchises are estimated to generate $150 million in system-wide sales annually.
Additional Weight Loss Market Data
To learn more about this market, see Marketdata’s new report, published April 2023 entitled The U.S. Medical Weight Loss Market, the most comprehensive investigation of the medical weight loss market published by anyone worldwide. The report covers:
- Dollar value & growth rates of all major medical weight loss market segments
- Latest market trends and developments
- In-depth analysis of weight loss surgery; programs by bariatricians; programs by hospitals, clinics, and independent MDs; programs by very low calorie diet vendors; and the prescription obesity drugs market
About the Author: John LaRosa is the President of Marketdata LLC and is the author of 100+ industry and market studies. His research appears in top media outlets including ABC, CNN, Fox, Forbes, USA Today, The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, and a variety of trade journals.
