The American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) has taken in millions from companies that manufacture a new class of weight loss drugs, raising concerns about the organization’s endorsement of the drugs for children as young as 8 years old, researchers said in a new paper.
The AAP, in guidelines released in 2023, recommended that doctors should offer children aged 12 and older glucagon-like peptide-1 receptor agonists (GLP-1) and other weight loss drugs. The guidelines, which AAP said it vetted, also said clinicians could offer the drugs to children aged 8 to 11.
In the guidelines and an accompanying technical report—both of which AAP published in its journal, Pediatrics—no funding from makers of GLP-1 drugs was disclosed….