Obesity drugs show early promise against the hormonal disorder PMOS,
giving a suffering family hope
[August 17, 2026]
By LAURA UNGAR
Charlotte Touzalin was still a young teenager when she began struggling
with weight gain, abnormal periods and unwanted facial hair — the same
puzzling symptoms that plagued her mom for decades and that no doctor
could piece together.
“I’d go home and I’d cry,” said Touzalin, an 18-year-old college student
from Colorado. “I didn’t understand why all this weight was coming back
or why my friends didn’t have to shave their faces and I had to.”
Touzalin and her mom, Anne Schultz, were finally diagnosed with
polyendocrine metabolic ovarian syndrome, a hormonal condition affecting
1 in 8 women worldwide. But unlike her mom, Touzalin is beginning young
adulthood with new hope after taking part in a study testing blockbuster
GLP-1 drugs as a treatment.
A small but growing body of research shows that these obesity
medications may also work for the disorder known as PMOS — not only by
promoting weight loss but also by improving insulin resistance, hormone
balance and ovulation. These things are key to the disease, which used
to be called polycystic ovary syndrome but was renamed earlier this year
to shift the focus away from ovaries and cysts.
“We need to do a better job taking care of it,” said Dr. Melanie Cree,
who has led three studies testing GLP-1 drugs for PMOS including the one
Touzalin joined. “We are finding them incredibly effective and really
exciting for improving symptoms in women with this condition.”
PMOS is a mysterious and maddening disease
Touzalin and her mom's long, frustrating journey with PMOS is common.
Diagnosis often takes years because symptoms overlap with other
conditions, vary widely and may be dismissed by doctors. The disorder
tends to run in families, and many but not all women affected carry
excess weight. But there’s no known cause or specific treatment, just
symptom management such as taking birth control pills to regulate
periods and keeping weight in check with diet and exercise.
Two hormones are key drivers of PMOS: insulin, which acts like a key to
let blood sugar into cells, and testosterone, which among other things
helps maintain sexual desire, bone density and muscle mass.
Most women with PMOS, regardless of their body size, have insulin
resistance, which means this hormone doesn't work as well as it should,
said Cree, PMOS clinic director at Children’s Hospital Colorado. In many
women, the high insulin can go directly to the ovaries, spurring them to
make more testosterone and leading to problems like skipped periods,
severe acne and even beard growth.
Schultz, 43, didn’t even know the condition existed when she first began
having irregular periods and bloating around age 18. In addition to
struggling with the same symptoms as her daughter, she had problems with
her ovaries and numerous miscarriages, which are more common with PMOS.
Schultz received various diagnoses before learning she had PMOS around
the same time as her daughter, who faced a similar medical runaround.
Schultz recalled talking about Touzalin's symptoms with a pediatrician
who was seeing her for what they thought was primarily an issue with
binge eating and ADHD.
Schultz told the doctor: “There's gotta be something else going on
here.”
Touzalin said she felt “heard for the first time” when a nurse
practitioner began piecing things together a few years ago. Cree
definitively diagnosed her last year.
“It was like a godsend,” said Schultz, tearing up. “We finally had an
answer and some kind of a path for her.”
[to top of second column]
|
Dr. Melanie Cree explains medical results to Noelani Schulmeister in
a study using GLP-1 medication to treat PMOS Friday, July 10, 2026
in Aurora, Colo. (AP Photo/Brittany Peterson)
In Cree’s study, Touzalin gave herself shots of semaglutide weekly for
10 months. The abnormal hair growth slowed and her periods normalized.
For the first time, she felt full after eating and stopped gaining
weight constantly.
“I became a happier version of myself,” she said. “I felt like a normal
person.”
While research on GLP-1s for PMOS continues, insurers put up barriers
Touzalin’s results weren’t unique. Early data from the study, published
in June in the journal Fertility and Sterility, said eight of 11
participants completing the trial lost at least 10% of their body
weight. The median weight loss among them was about 42 pounds; the
median drop in testosterone was 52%. Six women had more periods and four
of them went to monthly periods.
In all three of Cree’s studies, women on GLP-1s lost more weight than
those in control groups, and levels of testosterone, blood sugar and
insulin dropped. While the study involving Touzalin looks at semaglutide
shots, the other studies examined semaglutide pills in one and exenatide
shots in the other.
Other studies globally have shown similarly positive results. Although
the studies are small, some researchers say GLP-1s are already showing
promising potential for targeting metabolic issues in PMOS. Others say
the evidence remains uncertain, and more studies are underway.
As research continues, more and more doctors are prescribing the drugs
“off label” for PMOS and seeing improvements in their patients. But
insurance coverage is often a problem because the drugs are not approved
to treat the condition.
“I use these medicines a great deal,” said Dr. Rana Malek, an
endocrinologist with the University of Maryland Medical System.
Among patients with insulin resistance, she said she usually uses them
to help with weight loss.
Doctors stress that results vary. GLP-1s don’t work for everyone and can
have side effects, like nausea and constipation. If people stop taking
them, weight can return.
Still, they can help a lot of PMOS patients, Malek said, and it’s
frustrating that many can’t get them because of insurance issues. Not
only are they unapproved for PMOS, some insurers don’t cover them for
weight loss.
Touzalin recently ran into this barrier herself. After finishing her
study participation, she no longer gets free GLP-1s and had to go off
them in June.
Schultz is determined to get her back on them. She’s fighting with her
insurer and has a backup plan to get medications through a drug company
program. She’d also like to try GLP-1s for her own PMOS, but said her
daughter comes first.
Touzalin hopes for a day when any PMOS patient can get the treatment if
she needs it.
“It’s something that could help a lot of other people,” she said.
___
AP video journalist Brittany Peterson in Denver contributed to this
story.
All contents © copyright 2026 Associated Press. All rights reserved |
