Oral Semaglutide Is As Effective For Weight Loss As Injections



Readers will recall, that once-weekly injections of the novel long-acting GLP-1 analogue semaglutide was recently shown (in patients with type 2 diabetes) to result in a rather impressive weight loss.

Now, a phase II dose-finding study comparing various oral doses of semaglutide to subcutaneous injections in patients with type 2 diabetes was just published in JAMA.

The 26-week trial with 5-week follow-up included around 600 patients with type 2 diabetes and insufficient glycemic control using diet and exercise alone or a stable dose of metformin were randomized to once-daily oral semaglutide of 2.5 mg (n = 70), 5 mg (n = 70), 10 mg (n = 70), 20 mg (n = 70), 40-mg 4-week dose escalation (standard escalation; n = 71), 40-mg 8-week dose escalation (slow escalation; n = 70), 40-mg 2-week dose escalation (fast escalation, n = 70), oral placebo (n = 71; double-blind) or once-weekly subcutaneous semaglutide of 1.0 mg (n = 70) for 26 weeks.

Mean change in HbA1c level from baseline to week 26 decreased with oral semaglutide (dosage-dependent range, −0.7% to −1.9%) and subcutaneous semaglutide (−1.9%) and placebo (−0.3%);

Significant reductions were also seen in body weight with both oral (dosage-dependent range, −2.1 kg to −6.9 kg) and subcutaneous semaglutide (−6.4 kg) vs placebo (−1.2 kg)>

Adverse events (largely consisting of mild to moderate gastrointestinal events) were as expected and relatively comparable between the treatment arms.

Although this was a diabetes study, these findings clearly hold promise for the further development of an oral formulation of semaglutide for the obesity indication.

@DrSharma
Tønsberg, Noway

Disclaimer: I have served as a consultant for Novo Nordisk, the maker of semaglutide.