A new study has found that taking a higher dose of the weight-loss drug semaglutide can lead to much greater weight loss and health improvements for adults with obesity, including those who also have type 2 diabetes.
This discovery could be good news for people who haven’t seen enough results with the current treatments.
The study was published in The Lancet Diabetes & Endocrinology journal and involved two large international trials—STEP UP and STEP UP T2D. These were phase 3 trials, meaning they were done on a large scale to test how well the drug works and how safe it is.
The researchers wanted to see if taking more semaglutide—7.2 mg per week instead of the already-approved 2.4 mg—would help people lose more weight.
In the trials, participants were randomly given either 7.2 mg, 2.4 mg, or a fake treatment (placebo) for 72 weeks. Everyone also received advice on healthy eating and exercise, no matter which group they were in.
For people without diabetes, the higher 7.2 mg dose helped them lose nearly 19% of their body weight on average. That’s more than the 16% loss from the 2.4 mg dose, and way more than the 4% loss from the placebo group.
Almost half of the people who took 7.2 mg lost 20% or more of their body weight, and about one-third lost at least 25%. They also showed better results in waist size, blood pressure, blood sugar, and cholesterol—all important for reducing health risks from obesity.
For people who had both obesity and type 2 diabetes, the results were also encouraging. The higher dose led to a 13% average weight loss, compared to 10% with the regular dose and about 4% with placebo. Their blood sugar and waist size also improved.
Side effects were mostly mild and manageable. The most common ones were stomach problems like nausea or diarrhea and some tingling sensations. These usually went away over time and didn’t cause many people to quit the study. There were no major safety concerns, including no rise in severe low blood sugar or other serious issues.
In short, the higher dose of semaglutide helped more people lose weight and improve their health without causing major side effects.
Doctors and researchers believe this could become an important new option for treating obesity, especially in people who also have diabetes. But more studies are still needed to understand how safe and effective it is over the long term.
The study is published in The Lancet Diabetes & Endocrinology.
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