About the Weight Loss Atlas

What the Atlas is

The Weight Loss Atlas explains prescription weight-loss medicines in everyday language. It covers the medicines that are approved, the ones still in trials, what the studies measured, what the labels say, and the questions worth bringing to a prescriber. It also has a few calculators and a reference tool for reading trial numbers.

It is meant for adults who are thinking about treatment, are already in it, or are helping someone who is. You do not need a science background to follow it.

What it is not

• It is not a clinic, a pharmacy or an online prescribing service, and it does not prescribe, sell or ship anything.
• It is not medical advice. A licensed clinician who knows your history decides what is right for you.
• It is not a directory. The Atlas does not list, rank or recommend clinics, services or pharmacies. The providers page explains how to size one up yourself.

How it stays independent

• No ads, no sponsored pages and no affiliate links.
• Nobody pays to be mentioned, and nobody can pay to change what a page says.
• Many trials are paid for by the company that makes the medicine. Pages say so where the funder is known, and company announcements are used to report what happened, not as proof that a medicine works.
• Approved medicines, medicines still in trials and compounded versions are kept apart and labeled, because they are not the same thing.

Rules every page follows

• Sources first. Official labels and regulator records come first, then peer-reviewed papers and trial registries. Every page lists its sources with links. See where our information comes from.
• Numbers carry their context. A trial result is tied to the named study, the group, the dose and the length of the trial. Averages are not promises for any one person.
• Unknowns are stated. Most pages end with what is still not known, so a gap does not read as a yes.
• No personal dosing instructions. The Atlas reports what labels and studies say. It never tells a reader how much to take.
• Plain language. Technical terms are explained where they first appear.
• Changes are checked. New approvals, trial results and label changes are added to the news page with their sources, and an update is checked against the source before it goes live.

If you spot an error

The label or study linked at the bottom of each page is the controlling source. If a page disagrees with it, trust the source and check the page again later, since the Atlas is updated as labels and trials change.