- Semaglutide, a drug used to treat type 2 diabetes, was found to help overweight and obese people lose, on average, 15% of their body weight over 68 weeks.
- Obesity has been on the rise in the US, and increases the risk of death if infected with COVID-19.
- A participant regained weight after the trial ended.
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A drug used to treat type 2 diabetes has been found to help obese and overweight people lose more weight than any other medicine on the market, according to a new study find.
Semaglutide, the drug used in the trial, helps insulin get released from the pancreas in patients with type 2 diabetes, and it’s administered in doses of around 1mg. It’s sold under the brand name Ozempic, and has been found to suppress appetite, too.
Researchers at Northwestern University set out to determine if semaglutide can cut weight, given that lifestyle changes and bariatric surgery aren’t always long lasting, and current drugs have side effects, like cancer risks.
Over 68 weeks, participants who received the drug lost, on average, nearly 15% of their weight – a stark difference from members in the placebo group, who lost 2.4%.
What’s more, the study also found that a third of participants who took semaglutide lost 20% of their weight.
The drug is a "game-changer," said Dr. Robert F. Kushner, study author and obesity researcher at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine, told the New York Times. "This is the start of a new era of effective treatments for obesity."
Dr. Eduardo Grunvald, medical director of the weight management program at UC San Diego Health, who was not involved in the study, said the results are "very exciting."
"It's a major advancement in the field because we have never had a medication that has demonstrated this degree of weight loss," he told Insider.
Obesity has been on the rise in the US over the past 20 plus years, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The disease causes heart problems, some cancers, and most recently, increases the chance of hospitalizations and death if infected with COVID-19.
Participants regained weight after trial ended, and some developed gallstones
In this study, participants were dispersed across 129 sites in 16 countries. Nearly 2,000 participants got a weekly dose of either 2.4 mg of semaglutide or the placebo - 1,306 people got the drug, and 655 people got the placebo. Both groups were on a 500 calorie deficit a day diet, and were encouraged to exercise for 150 minutes a week.
The study authors said that white women were overrepresented in the study, so it's unclear if the drug would be as effective in other populations. Some side effects included nausea and diarrhea, which occurred more frequently in the group taking semaglutide. Also, 23 people who took the drug developed gallstones, compared to four in the placebo group.
Because the trial only lasted 68 weeks, it's unclear if this drug will work in the long term, according to an editorial.
Qiana Mosely, a trial participant who lost 40 pounds, told the New York Times she was looking forward to using semaglutide again, as she regained weight after the trial ended. "I was so sad."
If this drug is approved to treat obesity, Grunvald said that, depending on your insurance company, it may or may not get covered. Partly because some insurance companies view obesity as a lifestyle choice rather than a disease.