Wegovy customers lose weight for four years, according to recent research.

The pharmaceutical company Novo Nordisk tracked participants in a lengthy, extensive trial who had pre-existing cardiac problems.

TFD – Discover how Novo Nordisk’s Wegovy treatment offers weight loss benefits and cardiovascular protection in a new trial.

After four years, patients on Novo Nordisk’s Wegovy obesity treatment continued to lose weight on average by 10%, which might strengthen the drugmaker’s argument to governments and insurers to pay for the pricey but effective treatment.

The Danish drugmaker presented the new long-term data on Tuesday at the European Congress on Obesity in Venice, Italy, in a new analysis from a large study for which substantial results had been published last year.

“This is the longest study we’ve conducted so far of semaglutide for weight loss,” Martin Holst Lange, Novo’s head of development, said in an interview, referring to the active ingredient in Wegovy and the company’s diabetes drug Ozempic.

“We observe that if you continue taking the medication, you don’t go back and start gaining weight once the majority of the weight loss has been achieved,” he continued.

The information may help persuade governments and insurance companies to compensate Wegovy, which charges between $200 and nearly $2,000 each month in the ten countries where it has been available thus far.

Wegovy was the first drug of a revolutionary class of medications called GLP-1 agonists to hit the market. Originally created to treat diabetes, these drugs provide a fresh approach to combating the alarming rise in obesity rates. In December, Eli Lilly introduced Zepbound, a competing medication, to the US market. Insufficient production has prevented both companies from satisfying the extraordinary demand.

Dr. Simon Cork, Senior Lecturer in Physiology from Anglia Ruskin University, said Britain’s public health service’s decision to limit coverage of the medicine to two years was “because of questionable long-term effectiveness”.

He stated that the recently released data, which indicates advantages last for four years, could potentially refute that claim.

How Wegovy benefits the heart

According to Novo, in a second review of the experiment released by the drugmaker on Tuesday, nausea accounted for the majority of side effects, with 17% of trial participants quitting the medication as a result.

After 65 weeks on Wegovy, patients in the experiment, named Select, dropped an average of over 10% of their total body weight. According to the corporation, that rate of weight loss was essentially maintained year over year for the final four years, at which point it had dropped to 10.2%.

The heart-protective effects of Wegovy to trial participants were observed independent of their weight before beginning the medication and regardless of how much weight they lost while taking it, according to a third fresh analysis on Select released by Novo on Tuesday.

“We now also understand that while we know that body weight loss is important, it’s not the only thing driving the cardiovascular benefit of semaglutide treatment”, Lange told Reuters in the interview.

Wegovy decreased the risk of a significant cardiovascular event, such as a stroke, in overweight or obese individuals with a history of heart disease by 20%, according to the Select study, which was published in August.

According to Novo, scientists are still trying to figure out the processes underlying the cardiovascular protection that semaglutide offers.

Tests are being conducted on Wegovy and Zepbound to evaluate their potential benefits in treating a range of different medical conditions, including kidney disease, sleep apnea, and heart attack risk.

The weight loss observed in the cardiac trial was lower than the 15% weight loss observed on average in previous Wegovy obesity studies conducted before to the drug’s June 2021 US introduction.

FAQ

1. What are the side effects of Wegovy?

• The newest weight loss medication, Wegovy (Semaglutide) came on the market in June 2021 and demand for the medication has been high. This medication, a once weekly injection, had excellent results in clinical trials showing weight loss of up to 15% body weight.

2. How does it compare to other weight loss drugs?

• Surprisingly, recent clinical trials have demonstrated superior weight loss results and, together with a safer side effect profile, have made this third generation of anti-obesity medications very attractive compared with the older drugs. These therapies mimic the hormones that your intestines produce when you eat.

3. Is Wegovy available worldwide?

• Wegovy is accessible in over ten nations. In 2021, it made its debut in the US, and in the middle of 2023, it expanded to Europe. However, Novo Nordisk, the producer, has not specified a precise date for its global debut, and its availability varies throughout the world. Wegovy is anticipated to launch in India in 20262. For the most recent details on Wegovy’s availability in your area, I advise anyone who may be interested in it to speak with a healthcare provider.