Semaglutide may effect weight loss upto 20% in obese: NEJM
UK: Once-weekly semaglutide (2.4 mg) in adjunct with diet and exercise, is effective for weight loss in non-diabetic obese or overweight adults, finds a recent study in the New England Journal of Medicine.
According to WHO, obesity is a global health challenge whose prevalence has nearly tripled worldwide since 1975. Few pharmacologic options further makes the situation even more worse. Semaglutide is an anti-diabetic medicine approved for the treatment of type 2 diabetes.
John P.H. Wilding, University of Liverpool, Liverpool, Uk and colleagues aimed to determine whether obese adults can achieve weight loss with once-weekly semaglutide at a dose of 2.4 mg as an adjunct to lifestyle intervention.
For the purpose, the researchers performed a double-blind trial and enrolled 1961 adults with a body-mass index of 30 or greater, who did not have diabetes. They were randomly assigned in a ratio 2:1 ratio to 68 weeks of treatment with once-weekly subcutaneous semaglutide (at a dose of 2.4 mg) or placebo, plus lifestyle intervention.
The coprimary end points were the percentage change in body weight and weight reduction of at least 5%. The primary estimand (a precise description of the treatment effect reflecting the objective of the clinical trial) assessed effects regardless of treatment discontinuation or rescue interventions.
Key findings of the study include:
- The mean change in body weight from baseline to week 68 was −14.9% in the semaglutide group as compared with −2.4% with placebo, for an estimated treatment difference of −12.4 percentage points.
- More participants in the semaglutide group than in the placebo group achieved weight reductions of 5% or more (1047 participants [86.4%] vs. 182 [31.5%]), 10% or more (838 [69.1%] vs. 69 [12.0%]), and 15% or more (612 [50.5%] vs. 28 [4.9%]) at week 68.
- The change in body weight from baseline to week 68 was −15.3 kg in the semaglutide group as compared with −2.6 kg in the placebo group (estimated treatment difference, −12.7 kg).
- Participants who received semaglutide had a greater improvement with respect to cardiometabolic risk factors and a greater increase in participant-reported physical functioning from baseline than those who received placebo.
- Nausea and diarrhea were the most common adverse events with semaglutide; they were typically transient and mild-to-moderate in severity and subsided with time.
- More participants in the semaglutide group than in the placebo group discontinued treatment owing to gastrointestinal events (59 [4.5%] vs. 5 [0.8%]).
"In participants with overweight or obesity, 2.4 mg of semaglutide once weekly plus lifestyle intervention was associated with sustained, clinically relevant reduction in body weight," wrote the authors.
Reference:
The study titled, "Once-Weekly Semaglutide in Adults with Overweight or Obesity," is published in the New England Journal of Medicine.
DOI: https://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJMoa2032183
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