TUESDAY, June 27, 2023 (HealthDay News) — Oral semaglutide 50 mg once daily leads to a superior and clinically meaningful reduction in body weight for adults with overweight or obesity without type 2 diabetes, according to a study published online June 25 in The Lancet to coincide with the annual meeting of the American Diabetes Association, held from June 23 to 26 in San Diego.

Filip K. Knop, M.D., from the University of Copenhagen in Denmark, and colleagues conducted a randomized, phase 3 superiority trial involving adults with a body mass index of at least 30 kg/m² or at least 27 kg/m² with bodyweight-related complications and comorbidities, without type 2 diabetes, in a trial conducted at 50 outpatient clinics in nine countries. A total of 667 participants were randomly assigned to oral semaglutide 50 mg or placebo (334 or 333, respectively) once per day for 68 weeks, plus lifestyle intervention.

The researchers found that from baseline to week 68, the estimated mean bodyweight change was −15.1 and −2.4 percent with semaglutide and placebo, respectively. Compared with placebo, in the semaglutide group, more participants reached bodyweight reductions of at least 5 percent (85 versus 26 percent; odds ratio, 12.6), 10 percent (69 versus 12 percent; odds ratio, 14.7); 15 percent (54 versus 6 percent; odds ratio, 17.9), and 20 percent (34 versus 3 percent; odds ratio, 18.5).

“These results indicate that oral semaglutide 50 mg could provide an effective, future option for people with overweight or obesity who would benefit from a glucagon-like peptide-1 receptor agonist,” the authors write.

Several authors disclosed ties to pharmaceutical companies, including Novo Nordisk, which manufactures semaglutide and funded the study.

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