Diabetes drug hailed as breakthrough for weight loss



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Help for obesity may come in a pill after all, according to a new study involving treatment for diabetes that led to noticeable weight loss for the average participant.

“A medical treatment for obesity that leads to weight loss of 10% in the majority and 20% in more than a third of participants. It’s the start of a new era, ”said Rachel Batterham, one of the researchers involved in the study and professor of obesity, diabetes and endocrinology and head of the Center for Obesity Research at UCL and the UCLH Weight Management Center. Twitter
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A total of 1,961 adults from North America, South America, Asia and Europe participated in the 68-week trial in 2018 involving the drug semaglutide, an anti-diabetic drug used to treat diabetes mellitus. type 2, according to the study published Wednesday in the New England Journal of Medicine,

Individuals were given an injection of semaglutide under the skin or a placebo each week, along with counseling sessions to adhere to a reduced calorie diet and exercise more. Semaglutide is sold under the names Ozempic and Rybelsus by the Danish pharmaceutical company Novo Nordisk NVO,
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“Participants who received semaglutide were more likely to lose 5% or more, 10% or more, 15% or more, and 20% or more of their basal body weight at week 68 than those who received placebo.” , says the study.

Trial participants were 18 years of age and older, with one or more previous dietary attempts to lose weight and with a body mass index (BMI) of 30 or greater, or a BMI of 27 with one or more conditions weight-related, treated or untreated. A normal BMI tends to fall between 18.5 and 24.9.

“Our trial showed that in overweight or obese adults (without diabetes), a once-weekly subcutaneous semaglutide plus lifestyle intervention was associated with a substantial, sustained and clinically relevant weight loss of 14, 9%, 86% of participants achieving at least 5% weight loss, ”the study researchers said.

Novo Nordisk has submitted semaglutide as a weight management treatment for regulatory approval to the Food and Drug Administration and the European Medicines Agency.



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