A landmark study has found that a drug used to treat type 2 diabetes is also highly effective at helping obese people lose weight. The drug, semaglutide, sold as Ozempic and Rybelsus, was trialled on nearly 2,000 obese adults worldwide.
More than one-third of participants who took the drug lost a fifth of their total body weight, while 75 per cent lost at least one-tenth. Average weight loss was 15.3kg (2.4 stone), compared to just 2.6kg (0.4 stone) in the placebo group.
Researchers hailed the findings as a 'game-changer', as the drug could offer an alternative to weight-loss surgery. The drug works by hijacking the brain's appetite-regulating system, reducing hunger and calorie intake.
Professor Rachel Batterham of University College London, who led the research, said: 'No other drug has come close to producing this level of weight loss.' The study was funded by Novo Nordisk, which plans to seek regulatory approval for the drug as an obesity treatment.
