New Delhi: A new drug can effectively reduce more than one-fifth or 20 per cent of a person’s total body weight, a new global study has revealed, paving the way for improving the health of people with obesity.
The trial, published in the New England Journal for Medicine, showed that over 35 per cent of the participants who took the drug, semaglutide, lost over a fifth of their total body weight.
Semaglutide was developed by Danish pharmaceutical Novo Nordisk and is approved as a medication for diabetes in several countries, including the US, Canada and Japan.
The drug has been designed to structurally mimic the human glucagon like peptide-1 (GLP-1) hormone, which is naturally released into the blood by the gut after meals. The hormone makes humans feel full.
“The findings of this study represent a major breakthrough for improving the health of people with obesity. Three quarters (75%) of people who received semaglutide 2.4mg lost more than 10% of their body weight and more than one-third lost more than 20%,” Rachel Batterham, a professor at University College London and one of the principal authors of the study, said in a statement.
“No other drug has come close to producing this level of weight loss — this really is a gamechanger. For the first time, people can achieve through drugs what was only possible through weight-loss surgery,” Batterham added.
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The trial
The Phase III Semaglutide Treatment Effect in People with Obesity (STEP) randomised controlled trial involved 1,961 adults who were either overweight or had obesity. It took place at 129 sites in 16 countries across Asia, Europe, North America, and South America.
Participants in the trial were either injected with a 2.4 mg dose of semaglutide or a placebo weekly. The trial started in 2018 and lasted 68 weeks.
The average participant in the trial lost 15.3 kg. Along with the overall weight loss, there were reductions in waist circumference, blood fats, blood sugar and blood pressure — all of which are risk factors for heart disease and diabetes.
Participants regularly followed up through counselling sessions, which helped them adhere to the reduced-calorie diet and increased physical activity. The participants also received incentives such as kettlebells or food scales to mark progress and milestones.
While those who took semaglutide recorded an average weight loss of 15.3 kg, the placebo group lost an average of 2.6 kg.
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