Researchers noticed that people who took the drug for their diabetes lost weight. The new trial focused on people who have obesity without diabetes and found even more weight loss.
Those taking the highest of three studied doses lost as much as 21% of their body weight – 50-60 pounds in some cases.
Nothing has provided that kind of weight loss except surgery, said Dr. Robert Gabbay, chief scientific and medical officer for the American Diabetes Association. The full study was presented Saturday at the ADA’s annual convention in New Orleans and simultaneously published in The New England Journal of Medicine.
Another obesity treatment approved last year called semaglutide, from Novo Nordisk, provides an average of up to about 15% weight loss. Previous generations of diet drugs cut only about 5% of weight and many carried prohibitive side effects.
Join the conversation as a VIP Member