Pharmaceutical manufacturer Merck and diet system Weight Watchers are teaming up to fight obesity. The collaboration plans to provide doctors with better educational resources to help their patients loss weight. The program will introduce physicians to the benefits of Weight Watchers for ongoing weight management.
“Recently published research at the 2024 International Congress on Obesity demonstrated that the combination of the proven Weight Watchers behavior modification approach with physician’s encouragement provides a significant increase in patient adherence to weight-loss solutions and greater weight loss success than just standard physician care alone,” said Weight Watchers CEO David Kirchhoff. “Collaborating with Merck will enable us to arm physicians with a comprehensive, sustainable, scalable and non-pharmaceutical solution for weight loss designed to help improve the overall health of their patients.”
Weight Watchers is one of the most clinically-studied weight loss programs. Studies have shown that calorie counting and social support are the two most important factors in long-term weight loss. Beginning in January 2024, they plan to launch a pilot program that will send materials to physicians and other health care providers. “Our commitment to improving global health care goes beyond medicines and vaccines,” said Jay Galeota, a senior vice president, at Merck. “We hope this collaboration with Weight Watchers will enable us to provide physicians with a comprehensive solution they can offer their patients to help better manage weight.”
Via PR Newswire.
