An effective drug for treating obesity appears to be within reach.Novo Nordisk this week announced Results from a Phase III clinical trial testing its oral version in demand The drug semaglutide. Once-daily pills not only significantly outperformed placebo However, it was just as effective as the injectable form of the drug.an approved drug called we goby—Participants lost an average of 15% of their body weight.
Semaglutide belongs to a class of drugs called GLP-1 agonists. These drugs provide a synthetic version of GLP-1 (glucagon-like peptide 1), a hormone that plays an important role in regulating metabolism and hunger. For over a decade, the GLP-1 drug has been approved and used to lower blood sugar levels in her type 2 diabetic patients. However, in recent years, it has become clear that these drugs can help people with and without diabetes lose weight. and much better effect than past options.
In June 2021, the Food and Drug Administration approved Novo Nordisk’s Wegovy. Injectable semaglutide higher than the maximum dose of semaglutide Existing semaglutide injection For diabetes it is called Ozempic. But even then, the company had already developed an oral semaglutide drug approved for diabetes, and it didn’t take long for that to happen. started human experiments on Oral version for obesitycalled Trial of OASIS. The company announced Monday the topline results of the Phase IIIa OASIS-1 trial.
Like Wegovy and Ozempic, the tablets used in the OASIS trial contain the highest dose of semaglutide than tablets marketed under the brand name Rybelsus used to treat diabetes. Rybelsus is taken in doses as high as 14 milligrams per tablet, but doses tested in these studies have been 25 or 50 milligrams. As with Rybelsus, participants in these trials took one pill be Day, The dose is gradually increased over several months to reduce side effects.
The OASIS-1 trial included more than 650 patients who were obese with a BMI greater than 30 or had a BMI greater than 27 and had potentially weight-related health problems, such as sleep apnea. I participated. These volunteers were randomly assigned to placebo or treatment. and followed for 68 weeks. Each group also received lifestyle counseling.
According to the company, from the 50sThe milligram oral semaglutide group lost a mean of 15.1% of baseline body weight by the end of the study, compared with a mean weight loss of 2.4% in the placebo group. Nearly 90% of the treatment group lost at least 5% of their body weight, compared to a quarter of that in the placebo group. Those who remained on treatment had an even higher average weight loss rate of 17.4%.
This discovery has not yet been scrutinized by outside scientists.But if They are valid, contain almost perfectly This is consistent with the weight loss seen in the Wegovy clinical trials. The side effects seen with oral semaglutide are similar to those seen with other of his GLP-1 drugs and are primarily gastrointestinal. The majority of adverse effects were mild to moderate and diminished over time, according to the company.
Wegobee is currently the only drug of its kind approved for obesity, but its popularity has led to an increase in off-label prescriptions for Ozempic (resulting in a shortage of both drugs). falling into). Novo Nordisk plans to apply for regulatory approval. A tablet version will be available in the US and Europe sometime in 2023. But the company may not be alone in this area. The world of obesity treatment for a long time. Eli Lilly TirzepatideA combination of GLP-1 and another hunger-related hormone has shown even greater weight loss success and is expected to be approved by the FDA later this year. Several other companies are developing similar drugs.
