People with type 1 diabetes who need to lose weight can benefit from the blockbuster GLP-1 drug semaglutide currently approved only for type 2 diabetes, according to results from a small trial.
Semaglutide is the active ingredient in Novo Nordisk's diabetes drugs Ozempic and Rybelsus, as well as its weight-loss treatment Wegovy.
In the first clinical trial testing the Novo drug in people with type 1 diabetes and obesity, the 36 patients who received weekly semaglutide injections along with their usual insulin spent more time in their target blood sugar range and lost more weight than 36 similar patients who got a placebo along with their insulin, study leader Dr. Viral Shah of Indiana University School of Medicine reported at the American Diabetes Association meeting in Chicago.
All of the patients were using automated insulin delivery systems and had a body mass index of 30 or higher, which is considered obese.
One-third of the patients in the semaglutide group achieved all three of the study's goals: blood sugar in the target range of 70 to 180 mg/dL more than 70% of the time, dangerously low blood sugar less than 4% of the time, and body weight reduction of at least 5%. The average weight loss with semaglutide was 20 pounds (9 kg).
No one in the placebo group achieved all three of these milestones, according to a report of the study published in NEJM Evidence.
"We hope that our trial will encourage the industry to conduct a regulatory approval trial so that this drug could be available as an adjunct to insulin therapy to optimize Type 1 diabetes management," Shah said in a statement.
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