Discovery found in battle of the bulge

A drug that can help overweight and obese people to lose more than a fifth of their weight is being hailed as a game-changer.

Semaglutide hijacks the brain’s appetite-regulating system, leading to reduced hunger and calorie intake. Picture: iStock

A drug that can help overweight and obese people to lose more than a fifth of their weight is being hailed as a game-changer.

A third of patients injected with the appetite suppressant lost more than 20 per cent of their weight, a trial found. After a year, participants receiving semaglutide weekly lost an average of almost 20kg, compared with less than 3kg in the placebo group.

The researchers, including scientists at University College London, say that it is possible to achieve via drugs what was once possible only through surgery.

Semaglutide hijacks the brain’s appetite-regulating system, leading to reduced hunger and calorie intake. It is used at a much lower dose to treat diabetes and doctors are awaiting regulatory approval to prescribe it for obesity.

The phase-three trial involved almost 2000 adults in 16 countries who were either overweight or obese, with an average weight of 105kg and body mass index (BMI) of 38 — far above the healthy range of 18.5 to 24.9.

Those taking semaglutide lost an average of 15kg, with a reduction in BMI of 5.54. The placebo group achieved an average weight loss of just under 2.7kg, with a reduction in BMI of 0.92.

There were some side effects, of nausea and diarrhoea, and a few cases of acute pancreatitis.

Rachel Batterham, a professor of obesity, diabetes and endocrinology who leads the Centre for Obesity Research at UCL and the UCLH Centre for Weight Management, is a principal author of the paper, published in the New England Journal of Medicine. She said: “The findings of this study represent a major breakthrough … No other drug has come close to producing this level of weight loss. This is a game-changer.”

She said the drug could have significant implications for health policy.

The Times