According to a new study, a drug recently approved to treat type 2 diabetes is equally effective at reducing weight.
The drug works on hormones that help regulate blood sugar and send signals from the gut to the brain.
People taking the drug for their diabetes lost weight as well. There was a new trial that focused on people with diabetes who are obese.
The people who took the highest of three studied doses lost as much as 21% of their body weight.
The American Diabetes Association's chief scientific and medical officer said that surgery was the only way to lose weight. The study was published in the New England Journal of Medicine and presented at the ADA convention in New Orleans.
The average weight loss with semaglutide is between 15% and 20%.
"We've never had a tool like this before," he added. I think it's great.
According to Jeff Emmick, vice president of product development for the diabetes division of Lilly, most of the trial participants had no serious side effects.
About 15% of participants who received the active drug dropped out due to side effects. 26% of trial volunteers who got a placebo dropped out.
On May 13, the Food and Drug Administration gave the go-ahead for the treatment of type 2 Diabetes.
Lilly hopes to submit data to the FDA later this year on the effectiveness of irrzepatide for weight loss. Lilly may have to complete other studies before the regulatory agency will approve the drug for weight loss.
It's possible to change the way doctors treat diabetes if you lose weight more than 20%.
Half of the people who took the drug early in the course of their diabetes went into remission.
He said that this could be a game-changer in how we think about therapy for people with type 2 diabetes.
It is not known if remission achieved this way will reduce the effects of diabetes, which can include cardiovascular disease, nerve and kidneys damage and limb amputations.
David Rind, a primary care physician and chief medical officer for the Boston-based Institute for Clinical and Economic Review, said that it's not yet clear whether the cardiovascular benefits of semaglutide will be provided by the drug.
Rind said it would be helpful to run a head-to-head trial between the two drugs to see if there are any differences.
Is it a step better than all those other weight loss drugs? Rind made a statement. I don't think it has been proven yet.
It has made a difference for Mary Bruehl.
She joined the trial because she heard about a drug side effect. Diabetes and weight control had slipped after years of doing everything right.
A hip replacement caused her to gain and lose weight. "It felt like there wasn't anything I could do to get rid of it," said Bruehl.
A worried Bruehl started skipping breakfast to cut down on calories and lose weight after he was diagnosed with a disease.
She started to lose 5 to 10 pounds a month. She lost 60 pounds by July 1, 2020, making her one of the best results so far from the drug.
She said that the more she lost, the better she felt and the more she was able to get back into physical activity.
The drug made her stop from eating too much. The food would come back up if she ate too much. She said she has learned to stop before she feels that.
Metformin was no longer needed for Bruehl'sDiabetes. The only negative side effect was nausea, which Bruehl experienced the day after each of her shots. She said an anti-nausea pill took care of it.
Adjusting to how different people treated her after she lost weight was the biggest challenge. She said that she needed time to accept what she was seeing in the mirror and to stop reacting with anger to comments about her new figure.
After being single for a long time, Bruehl found a long-term partner.
I feel like I'm more balanced. She said that she feels like she's more herself now.
More than 2,500 volunteers who met the medical definition of being obese, had a body mass index of 30 or above, or had a weight related health problem were included in the new trial.
70% of participants were white and the average body mass index was 38. Everyone on the drug saw improvements in their blood sugar, blood pressure, and cholesterol levels. Despite the ongoing COVID-19 Pandemic, the trial was completed.
Ania Jastreboff, an obese medicine specialist at Yale Medicine, who helped lead the trial, said her patients responded in a variety of ways, with some getting no benefit at all. Nine out of 10 lost weight and lost an average of 52 pounds each.
Jastreboff said that medicines like semaglutide are helping to take care of patients the way they need to be taken care of. They help people regain their weight.
Most of her patients have been helped through the side effects of the newer weight loss drugs by cutting back on certain foods. She said you're going to feel like you ate three Thanksgiving dinners if you eat past the point of being full.
Jastreboff helps patients through the self-blame they feel for carrying more weight. She sees obese people as a fight against biology's drive to hold on to extra weight. She said that the medicines were safe and effective.
She said that patients will need to keep on taking their weight loss medication. She said that it is possible that once they maintain a lower weight, they will be able to continue on a lower dose or cut back completely.
The price of weight loss drugs is going to be a problem for many people.
Lilly has yet to set a price for the drug. The same drug used to treat diabetes at the same dose can be purchased for just under $1,000 a month.
Rind said that semaglutide has been in short supply since it went on the market for weight loss. The cost of the weight loss dose is higher than the ones used to treat diabetes. Semaglutide is not covered by most insurance plans.
Jastreboff said that they work on access and cost on a daily basis.
Bruehl started on a low dose of semaglutide to treat herDiabetes and the weight that has begun to creeps back About $30 a month is the amount of insurance that is covered.
She's okay with the fact that she'll probably need to take it forever to keep the weight off, just as her hereditary risk for diabetes means she'll probably need to treat that forever as well. She said that she needs to include exercise and careful eating in her regimen as well.
This is going to take a long time.
Karen Weintraub can be reached at kweintraub@usatoday.com
USA TODAY has health and patient safety coverage thanks to a grant from the Masimo Foundation for ethics, innovation and competition in healthcare. Editorial input is not provided by the Masimo foundation.
A new study shows that diabetes drug could be a game-changer in the fight against obese people.
All Rights Reserved © 2024
