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Health obesity


OZEMPIC AND WEGOVY ‘SIGNIFICANTLY’ IMPROVE BLOOD SUGAR AND WEIGHT FOR THE
LONG-TERM, NEW STUDY SUGGESTS


THE STUDY REPRESENTS THE FIRST LONG-TERM, LARGE-SCALE, REAL-WORLD TRIAL OF THE
BLOCKBUSTER DRUG, RESEARCHERS SAID.

BY
Erin Prater
October 02, 2023 6:01 PM EDT

Semaglutides—weight loss and diabetes injectables like Wegovy, Ozempic, and
Rybelus—significantly improved blood sugar control and weight in adults with
type 2 diabetes over a three-year period, according to a newly released study.
Jaap Arriens/NurPhoto via Getty Images

Semaglutides—weight loss and diabetes injectables like Wegovy, Ozempic, and
Rybelsus—significantly improved blood sugar control and weight in adults with
type 2 diabetes over a three-year period, according to new data released Monday
at a major endocrine conference.

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Semaglutides—weight loss and diabetes injectables like Wegovy, Ozempic, and
Rybelsus—significantly improved blood sugar control and weight in adults with
type 2 diabetes over a three-year period, according to new data released Monday
at a major endocrine conference.



Results of the study—funded by Ozempic manufacturer Novo Nordisk—were presented
by the Israeli researchers at the annual meeting of the European Association for
the Study of Diabetes in Hamburg, Germany.



Scientists retrospectively analyzed the data of more than 23,000 diabetic
patients who used semaglutide. Six months after starting treatment, patients’
HbA1c levels—from a blood test that measures a person’s average glucose level
over the previous 8-12 weeks—improved, falling an average of 0.77%. Body weight
dropped by an average of 10 pounds.

Results were maintained over three years, among patients who took the drug that
long, according to researchers, with weight down around 13 pounds throughout.
HbA1c results remained down an average of 0.76% at the two-year mark and 0.43%
at the three-year mark. A one-percentage-point reduction in HbA1c typically
equates to a 40% reduction in the risk of diabetic complications like vision
loss, heart disease, stroke, kidney failure, amputation, and premature death.

The study represents the first long-term, large-scale, real-world trial of the
blockbuster drug, researchers say. And its findings support the weekly use of
the drug by type 2 diabetics, lead researcher Dr. Avraham Karasik, of the
Maccabi Institute for Research and Innovation at Tel Aviv University in Israel,
said in a news release about the study.



Results align with those of clinical trials of the drug, Karasik added—and they
come as no surprise, according to experts Fortune spoke with.

While the findings were as expected, “large-scale, observational data to back up
data from randomized clinical trials are helpful,” Dr. Utpal Pajvani, associate
professor of medicine in the division of endocrinology at Columbia University in
New York City, New York, tells Fortune.

Dr. Deborah B. Horn, an obesity medicine expert at UTHealth Houston in Texas,
tells Fortune that “it is always reassuring to see results from a controlled
environment like a clinical trial reproduced in the real world,” and added that
the HbA1c and weight changes mirror what she sees in patients.



The take-home messages from the study, according to Horn: “If you take your
medication consistently, you do better.”


A ‘WONDER DRUG’ WITH BOTH RISKS AND BENEFITS

Semaglutides, injected weekly, mimic a hormone produced in the intestines after
meals called glucagon-like peptide-1 (GLP-1). It helps regulate appetite and
food intake.

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration approved one of Novo Nordisk’s
formulations, Wegovy, in 2021 for weight management in adults with obesity, type
2 diabetes, and/or high cholesterol. It’s intended to be used in conjunction
with dieting and exercise. The FDA approved another Novo Nordisk formulation,
Ozempic, as a treatment for Type 2 diabetes in 2017. And it approved the first
oral semaglutide, Rybelsus, in 2019—also a Novo Nordisk product.



While semaglutides have been used to treat type 2 diabetics for six years and
those with obesity for two, recent research has revealed that the so-called
“wonder drug” may also help combat other diseases, like heart disease and heart
failure.

But it’s not without risks. So far, the drug has generally only been studied in
patients for a one-year period. But beyond that time, the risk of intestinal
obstruction—a potentially fatal condition that requires surgery—continues to
increase in type 2 diabetics, peaking around a year and a half, researchers from
China wrote in a letter to the editor published this spring in medical journal
Acta Pharmaceutical Sinica B.

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration late last month updated its warning label
for Ozempic, saying that the drug may lead to ileus, a condition in which the
intestines don’t work correctly. Wegovy’s packaging information also
acknowledges the risk.


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