Aid for obesity can still occur in a pill, according to a new study related to a diabetes treatment that has resulted in a significant weight loss for the average participant.
A medical treatment for obesity that results in 10% weight loss in the majority and 20% weight loss in more than a third of the participants. This is the beginning of a new era, ‘says Rachel Batterham, one of the researchers involved in the study and a professor of obesity, diabetes and endocrinology and head of the Center for Obesity Research at UCL and the UCLH Center for Weight Management, over Twitter
TWTR,
A total of 1,961 adults from North America, South America, Asia and Europe participated in the 68-week trial in 2018 that includes the drug semaglutide, an antidiabetic medication used to treat type 2 diabetes, according to the study, published in The New England Journal of Medicine on Wednesday,
The individuals received a weekly shot of semaglutide under the skin or a placebo, along with counseling sessions to adhere to a calorie-restricted diet and increased exercise. Semaglutide is sold under the names Ozempic and Rybelsus by the Danish medicine company Novo Nordisk NVO,
“Participants who received semaglutide at week 68 were more likely to lose 5% or more, 10% or more, 15% or more and 20% or more of body weight at baseline than those who received placebo,” he said. the study said.
Trial participants were 18 years and older, with one or more previous dietary attempts to lose weight and with a body mass index (BMI) of 30 or more, or a BMI of 27 with one or more weight-related conditions, treated or untreated. A normal BMI tends to fall in the 18.5 to 24.9 range.
‘Our trial showed that subcutaneous semaglutide once a week in overweight or obese adults (without diabetes) is associated with significant, sustained, clinically relevant mean weight loss of 14.9%, with 86% of participants achieving at least 5% has. weight loss, ”said the researchers of the study.
Novo Nordisk has submitted semaglutide as a weight control for approval by the Food and Drug Administration and the European Medicines Agency.