Biomarker & Intervention Discovery
Obesity
Pharmacologically actionable gene targets, therapeutic agents ranked by evidence tier, and active clinical trials.
US DALYs1.70MWHO GHE 2021 · all ages
Global DALYs13.92MWHO GHE 2021 · worldwide
US mortality57.7K deaths/yrWHO GHE 2021
Global mortality221.3K deaths/yrWHO GHE 2021 · worldwide
NIH funding$1.17BFY2025 · RCDC estimate
Funding levelWell-Funded
Spontaneous remissionSustained weight loss of >5% without intervention: ~5-10% at 2 years; weight regain almost universal after behavioural…
Best-intervention remissionGLP-1 receptor agonists (semaglutide 2.4mg): 15-17% mean weight loss at 68 weeks (STEP 1); tirzepatide (dual…
Gap sizeVery large — effective pharmacotherapy now exists but is massively under-prescribed; access is the primary barrier
Primary barrieraccess/framing
Full remission profile →
Remission & chronicity
Spontaneous remission
Sustained weight loss of >5% without intervention: ~5-10% at 2 years; weight regain almost universal after behavioural intervention alone (95% return to within 5% of starting weight at 5 years on lifestyle alone)
Best-intervention remission
GLP-1 receptor agonists (semaglutide 2.4mg): 15-17% mean weight loss at 68 weeks (STEP 1); tirzepatide (dual GIP/GLP-1): 20-22% at 72 weeks (SURMOUNT-1); bariatric surgery: 25-35% sustained weight loss at 10 years with metabolic syndrome resolution
Gap size
Very large — effective pharmacotherapy now exists but is massively under-prescribed; access is the primary barrier
Primary barrier
access/framing
Obesity is still widely treated as a lifestyle choice rather than a chronic disease by payers; GLP-1 medications (semaglutide, tirzepatide) cost $1,000-1,300/month and are excluded from most Medicare coverage; stigma in clinical settings reduces treatment-seeking; bariatric surgery used in <1% of eligible patients
Biomarker Targets & Therapeutic Agents
Gene targets queried against DGIdb, Open Targets, ChEMBL, PubMed, and Europe PMC.
Agents ranked: ● Clinical >
● Mechanistic >
● Correlative.
Pipeline results not yet available. Run: python -m biomarker_pipeline.run_for_diseases --skip-llm
Clinical Trials
Recruiting and recently completed trials from ClinicalTrials.gov.
Data retrieved 2026-07-06.
No recent clinical trials found on ClinicalTrials.gov for this condition.
Agents Found By Disease-Level Search
Searched directly from “Obesity” via ClinicalTrials.gov interventions and Open Targets'
disease→drug data — independent of the 0-gene target panel above.
This surfaces agents whose mechanism doesn't route through a curated gene (combination
therapies, standard-of-care drugs, targets outside the panel).
Not yet run. python -m biomarker_pipeline.run_disease_agent_discovery --disease "..."