A diabetes medication can also be a promising treatment for obesity – in a new study, people who took the drug lost an impressive 15% of their body weight, which is more than any other obesity drug on the market.
The drug, known as semagglutide, is an injectable drug that has already been approved to help control blood sugar levels in people with Type 2 diabetes. But the drug also suppresses appetite.
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In the new study, published Wednesday (February 10) in The new English medical journal, the researchers randomly assigned 1,961 obese or overweight adults to receive semagglutide or a placebo as an injection once a week for 68 weeks. Participants also received counseling sessions once a month to help them stick to a low calorie diet and were encouraged to increase their physical activity.
At the end of the study, those who received semaglutide lost 14.9% of body weight, on average, compared to just 2.4% of body weight in the placebo group.
Five other drugs have been approved to treat obesity, but even the most effective of these drugs results in about 7.5% weight loss, according to The New York Times. And these drugs can generally be used for short periods of time, the Times reported. For example, the phentermine weight loss medication is usually taken for 3 to 6 weeks, according to the National Institute of Health, a much shorter period of time than the 68-week treatment with semagglutide used in the study.
“This is the beginning of a new era of effective treatments for obesity,” said Dr. Robert F. Kushner, an obesity researcher at Northwestern University’s Feinberg School of Medicine, who led the study.
People who took semaglutide were more likely to experience gastrointestinal side effects, including nausea, diarrhea, vomiting and constipation, compared to the placebo group. But these side effects tend to be temporary.
The study also did not analyze the effects of the drug beyond 68 weeks, and people would probably need to continue taking the drug for the rest of their lives to prevent their weight from returning, the Times reported.
And weight loss drugs that seem to perform well in tests may not be as effective in real environments, according to CNN. In addition, several weight loss drugs that have been approved by the Food and Drug Administration were subsequently withdrawn due to side effects, CNN reported.
The study was funded by the manufacturer of semagglutide, Novo Nordisk. The Danish pharmaceutical company has already submitted an application to the FDA for approval of semaglutide for chronic weight control, according to CNN.
Originally published on Live Science.