Once-weekly semaglutide lowers blood glucose and weight with type 2 diabetes patients

Novo Nordisk said Monday that once-weekly semaglutide demonstrated consistent blood glucose reductions and weight loss regardless of background oral antidiabetic treatment.

According to Novo Nordisk’s press release, findings from a post hoc analysis of the phase 3a SUSTAIN 2-4 trials demonstrated greater mean reductions in HbA1c and body weight with once-weekly semaglutide treatment compared to sitagliptin, exenatide extended release (ER) and insulin glargine U100 in adults with type 2 diabetes, across multiple background oral antidiabetic (OAD) treatment categories.

“Type 2 diabetes is a complex disease, and as a result many patients are not reaching their targets on current oral antidiabetic therapy,” said Vanita Aroda, SUSTAIN 4 investigator and physician investigator at the MedStar Health Research Institute, Hyattsville, MD, US.

“Results from this post hoc analysis show that once-weekly semaglutide consistently lowered blood glucose and weight in people with type 2 diabetes regardless of their current oral antidiabetic therapy.”  

Once-weekly semaglutide is currently under review by the US Food and Drug Administration, the European Medicines Agency and the Japanese Pharmaceuticals and Medical Devices Agency. If approved, the indication of once-weekly semaglutide will reflect the trial results and assessment by the regulatory authorities.

Furthermore, people treated with semaglutide 1.0 mg achieved significantly greater reductions in mean body weight across all OAD categories vs. all comparators (p<0.05).

People treated with semaglutide 0.5 mg on a background of metformin or metformin plus sulfonylurea achieved significantly greater reductions in mean body weight vs. sitagliptin, exenatide ER and insulin glargine U100 (p<0.0001). The reductions seen across the background treatment category of OADs less commonly used in this post hoc analysis did not reach statistical significance