Semaglutide Continues To Hold Promise For Obesity Treatment



This week, the Lancet published the results of the SUSTAIN7 trial, an open-label, parallel-group, phase 3b trial done at 194 hospitals, clinical institutions or private practices in 16 countries.

Eligible patients with type 2 diabetes (HbA1c 7·0–10·5% on metformin monotherapy, n=1201), were randomised to once-weekly injections of the GLP-1 analogues semaglutide 0·5 mg, dulaglutide 0·75 mg, semaglutide 1·0 mg, or dulaglutide 1·5 mg.

Over the 40 weeks of treatment, participants on semaglutide had a greater reduction in HbA1c than participants who were on corresponding doses of dulaglutide.

More interesting, in the context of this blog, semaglutide was also almost twice as effective in lowering mean body weight than dulaglutide.

Thus, bodyweight was reduced by 4·6 kg with semaglutide 0·5 mg compared with 2·3 kg with dulaglutide 0·75 mg and by 6·5 kg with semaglutide 1·0 mg compared with 3·0 kg with dulaglutide 1·5 mg.

As expected, the most frequent adverse effects were gastrointestinal.

Given that this was not actually a trial designed to maximise weight loss (as would have been attempted in a study primarily designed to study semaglutide as a treatment for obesity), these changes in body weight are certainly quite impressive.

These findings no doubt hold promise for the further development of semaglutide as an anti-obesity medication.

@DrSharma
Edmonton, CA
Disclaimer: I have received speaking and consulting honoraria from Novo Nordisk, the maker of semaglutide