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New analysis of weight loss drug Wegoby’s longest clinical trial ever reveals how quickly its effects appear People’s weight loss, how long that weight loss lasts, and the drug’s safety over four years of use.
Analysis – Results of a test called Select, Indicated Last year, researchers said that Wegovy not only helped with weight loss, but also significantly reduced heart risks, also suggesting that the drug may protect the heart in ways beyond just weight loss. and raises new questions about what this highly popular drug class should look like. used and covered by your insurance company.
“The impact is deep,” he said. Dr. Harlan Krumholzis a cardiologist and scientist at Yale University and Yale New Haven Hospital, but was not involved in the study. Please note the second study Similar findings were made this week for heart failure. “We have never encountered a drug that has such a wide range of effects on the heart.”
More than 25,000 people in the U.S. start using Wegovy every week, driven by pharmaceutical company Novo Nordisk. Said this month.And at KFF poll Six percent of respondents said they currently use this class of drugs, known as GLP-1 receptor agonists, according to the report released Friday. This equates to more than 15 million Americans.
One of the key questions about these blockbuster drugs is how widely and for how long they have been studied. The Select study was funded by Novo Nordisk; Indicated Last year, Wegovy announced that it reduced the risk of heart attack, stroke, and heart-related death by 20% in people with cardiovascular risks associated with obesity or who are overweight. The study involved more than 17,600 people from 41 countries between 2018 and 2021 and was followed for several years.
Researchers continue to mine the data, and a new analysis presented at an academic conference on Monday shows european obesity conference and was published in a magazine natural medicine, showing results from people who took Wegovy for as long as four years. Below are some of the main takeaways.
analysis People using Wegovy’s active ingredient, semaglutide, were shown to have an average weight loss of just over 10%. This compared to 1.5% for study participants who received a placebo. Researchers led by Donna Ryan, Ph.D., of the Pennington Biomedical Research Center in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, found that because of this trend, participants on the medication typically took about 65 weeks, or 18 months, to reach a plateau. He pointed out that it has been shown to reduce body weight.
a Previous clinical trials An even greater average weight loss was seen in Wegovy. He averaged about 15% at 68 weeks, compared with 2.4% in those given a placebo. Researchers in the new analysis note that in addition to some differences in the people who participated in each trial, previous studies were specifically designed for weight loss and compared to selection trials regarding diet and exercise. It was noted that more structured lifestyle interventions were included. It is designed to test whether a drug prevents cardiac events.
The results showed that people who used Wegovy experienced an average 10% weight loss that lasted up to 208 weeks, or four years.
The patient continued to take the drug while maintaining weight loss. Other studies have shown that many people regain weight when they stop the drug. published An announcement from Novo Nordisk competitor Eli Lilly says people who used Zepbound, a GLP-1 drug that uses the active ingredient tirzepatide and targets a second hormone called GIP, lost an average of 21 pounds in 36 weeks. I lost %. They then divided the participants into two groups and found that those who continued taking the drug lost an additional 5.5% of their weight, while those who unknowingly switched to the placebo regained 14% of their weight.
However, not everyone recovered so well weight. The study also looked at how many people maintained at least 80% of their weight loss after the first 36 weeks, and found that even more people who continued taking the drug maintained their weight loss, but less on the placebo. Almost 90% of those who made the switch, and nearly 17% maintained their weight. Lose so much weight without drugs.
In the new analysis, the researchers found that after two years, about 68% of people who took Wegovy lost at least 5% of their weight, compared to 21% of those who took a placebo. Almost 23% of people who used Wegovy lost at least 15% of their weight, compared to 1.7% when using a placebo. Also, almost 5% of those who took the drug lost more than 25% of their weight, compared to 0.1% of those who took a placebo. This shows that the main results of the study are just averages. Everyone has different experiences with drugs.
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Overall, more people in Wegovy decided to discontinue participation in the trial due to side effects than those who received a placebo. 17% of those given the drug vs. 8% of those given a placebo had: Before report. And side effects are widely known with these drugs, primarily gastrointestinal disturbances such as nausea, diarrhea, vomiting, and constipation, which usually affect people during the first few months of the study as the drug dose increases. It affected me.
Researchers noted that the latest analysis showed no new safety signs. Acute pancreatitis, or inflammation of the pancreas, was not seen at a higher rate in people taking Wegovy than the placebo, but gallbladder disease, such as gallstones, was 2.8% in people taking Wegovy. compared with 2.3% for those taking a placebo.Both are included in the drug warning Prescription information Because they had been seen in previous trials.
When the full results of the Select trial were first announced, a key question was whether the 20% reduction in heart risk was driven by weight loss alone or by other protective effects of the drug. That was it.new analysis It suggests that something else is involved.
Even people who didn’t lose weight while using Wegovy showed a reduced risk of heart attacks and other conditions.
Dr. Daniel Drucker, a pioneer in GLP-1 research at the University of Toronto who was not involved in the new study, says that with semaglutide and similar drugs, “perhaps you don’t even need to lose weight to get cardiovascular benefits.” Probably not.” analysis. “That’s because that’s how GLP-1 works. At least in animals, whether you have diabetes or not, whether you have obesity or not, GLP-1 protects your heart and you don’t need to lose weight. That’s all there is to it. It’s not.”
Ann analysis guided by John Deanfield Researchers at University College London found that in a study of subjects taking Wegovy, compared to a placebo, those who lost more than 5% of their body weight lost less than that; found similar reductions in major cardiovascular events between patients. I gained weight.
“This suggests an alternative mechanism of cardiovascular disease improvement beyond body fat reduction,” the researchers concluded.
Another study was published Monday Regarding heart failure, What Wegovy has It is shown This is a huge advantage and suggests the same, Krumholz said.
“These two studies show that these anti-obesity drugs are also beneficial drugs for heart health,” he wrote in an email. “For people who already have cardiovascular disease or some types of heart failure, the heart benefits are obtained regardless of the amount of weight loss.”
Drucker suspects that GLP-1 drugs produce this effect by reducing inflammation.
“You can’t ignore the reduction in blood pressure and triglycerides. Weight loss should help a little, and glucose should help a little as well,” he says.
But based on that his laboratory According to the study, “One of my favorite theories is inflammation, because we know that people with cardiovascular disease have increased inflammation in their blood vessels and heart.”
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Professor Drucker said studies have shown that GLP-1 drugs suppress harmful inflammation, and his lab is studying it. He has also heard from people with symptoms such as coronavirus-related brain fog, ulcerative colitis, and inflammatory arthritis who believe their symptoms have improved while using GLP-1 drugs. He said that These associations must be supported by clinical studies before they can be considered definitive.
He said the results of the Select trial showed that people who are not obese or overweight but have had a heart attack or stroke could take a drug like Wigoby to prevent another event. He said it raises questions about whether there will be any benefits. Something that would need to be researched.
And Drucker said the results suggest that insurance companies should more broadly cover drugs that would otherwise cost about $1,000 or more per month.
“Maybe we really need to rethink these standards for drug reimbursement, because they don’t help in terms of actually improving health, saving lives, and saving health care costs,” he said. “You don’t even need to lose weight to reduce heart attacks, strokes, and deaths.”
