Semaglutide: The diabetes drug that can cut about 20% body weight in obese patients

Updated : February 11, 2021 06:33 PM IST

Semaglutide — a drug that suppresses appetite — is being called a ‘gamechanger’ in the battle against obesity, after a research has proven that it’s effective and could cut body weight by up to 20 percent.

What this means, according to researchers, is that for the first time it was possible to achieve through drugs what was earlier only possible through weight-loss surgery.

The study was conducted by a team from University College London (UCL). Semaglutide is a drug for treatment of Type 2 diabetes. In a clinical trial report published in the New England Journal of Medicine, researchers at Northwestern University in Chicago tested the drug at a much higher dose as an anti-obesity medication.

The trial involved 1,961 adults, who were either overweight or obese, and took place at 129 sites in 16 countries across Asia, Europe, North America, and South America. Participants injected themselves weekly with Semaglutide or a placebo for 68 weeks. Those who injected the drug lost about 15.3kg on an average, compared to 2.6kg of those who injected the placebo.

https://www.nejm.org/doi/pdf/10.1056/NEJMoa2032183

Professor Rachel Batterham from UCL’s Centre for Obesity Research said that this was a major breakthrough for improving the health of people with obesity, as no other drug has come close to producing this level of weight loss.

Apart from weight loss, the participants who injected themselves with Semaglutide also noticed reductions in risk factors for heart disease and diabetes, such as waist circumference, blood fats, blood sugar and blood pressure.

Evidence from the study has been submitted for regulatory approval as a treatment for obesity to the National Institute of Clinical Excellence (NICE), the European Medicines Agency (EMA) and the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA).

Dr Robert Kushner, an obesity researcher at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine, labelled the drug a “game-changer”.

Dr Clifford Rosen of Maine Medical Center Research Institute, who was not involved in the trial, said that even the gastrointestinal symptoms among the participants were marginal and nothing compared to other weight loss drugs in the past.

At present, five available anti-obesity drugs have side effects. The most effective, Phentermine, can lead to weight loss of about 7.5 per cent on an average, and can be taken only for a short time. However, after it’s stopped, the amount of weight lost is regained.

The most effective treatment for obesity so far has been bariatric surgery, where people can lose 25-30 per cent of their body weight.

Published : February 11, 2021 06:27 PM IST

Semaglutide: The diabetes drug that can cut about 20% body weight in obese patients

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