News ‘Limited’ supply of weight loss drug semaglutide launched in UK Manufacturer Novo Nordisk said it will monitor demand and work with regulators to
Semaglutide is an antidiabetic medication used for the treatment of type 2 diabetes and an anti-obesity medication used for long-term weight management
Wegovy, the latest weight loss drug, received approval from the Medicines and Health Products Regulation Agency (MHRA) in the UK in September 2021
In the UK, Wegovy was approved in 2021, but only got the nod from England’s medical guidelines body the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence in March 2023
2 Nov 2023
The mean 15% weight loss at 68 weeks is nearly twice what is seen with other FDA-approved anti-obesity medications, he noted, and moreover, 70% of patients taking semaglutide lost at least 10% of 1
In September 2023, a separate brand of semaglutide was approved in 2023 for weight loss under the brand name Wegovy
Semaglutide very closely resembles a natural hormone called glucagon-like peptide-1 (GLP-1) and it works in three ways
25mg of semaglutide a week
Wegovy (semaglutide) is a glucagon-like peptide-1 (GLP-1) receptor agonist used as an adjunct to diet and exercise for chronic weight management
Patients taking Wegovy (Semaglutide) for weight loss should lose around 15% of their starting weight during the first few months of treatment
It was originally approved in 2017 as Ozempic, a once-weekly injection for adults living with Type 2 diabetes
In trials used alongside a healthy diet and exercise it helped obese people lose between 15-20% of their body weight – about 2 stone (13kg) on average
Tracked delivery
Ozempic (semaglutide) has been authorised for the treatment of adults with insufficiently controlled type 2 diabetes mellitus
SCALE 1839 was a randomised controlled trial of liraglutide compared with placebo in people with overweight or obesity
GPs will soon be able to refer patients for weight-loss treatment with semaglutide, which NICE says can help people to reduce their weight by over 10 per cent
Semaglutide acts as a GLP-1 receptor agonist that selectively binds to and activates the GLP-1 receptor, the target for native GLP-1