Obesity drug shows significant weight loss for at least four years, with fewer serious events, study finds
The largest and longest study of the obesity drug Wegovy has shown people maintain significant weight loss for at least four years, with fewer serious adverse events than those given placebo ‘dummy’ treatment.
Doctors say the finding will add pressure on UK health authorities, which currently limit treatment to just two years.
Results revealed at an international obesity conference show those given weekly injections of the drug shed pounds for the first 65 weeks of treatment, and then sustained a stable body weight over the longer term.
On average they lost 10.2% of their body weight and 7.7cm from their waist size after four years.
Significantly, even those who were only slightly obese, or who only lost a small amount of weight, still benefited from a reduction in cardiovascular risks, according to results presented at the European Congress on Obesity in Venice and published in the journal Nature Medicine.
Dr Simon Cork, senior lecturer in physiology at Anglia Ruskin University, who wasn’t involved in the study, said the results show for the first time that patients maintain a “weight plateau” if they continue treatment long term.
“Importantly one of the decisions by the UK health service to limit (treatment) to two years was because of questionable long-term cost effectiveness,” he said.
He added: “That this data demonstrates improved cardiovascular and metabolic parameters continuing to four years may go some way to negating that argument.
“This study also neatly demonstrates that obesity is a lifelong condition and the decision by NICE to limit prescription to two years does a disservice to patients suffering with obesity.”
A dosage of Wegovy, a drug used for weight loss. Pic: PA
The SELECT (Semaglutide and Cardiovascular Outcomes) trial involved 17,604 adults with obesity or who were overweight from 41 countries. None of them had diabetes, but all had previously had a heart attack, stroke or peripheral artery disease.
Over the first two years of the study, the proportion of people who were obese fell sharply from 71% to 43% in the group given Wegovy.
But in those given placebo injections, the rate dropped only slightly, from 72% to 68%.
After three years of treatment, participants had a 20% lower risk of a heart attack, stroke or dying from cardiovascular disease, according to analysis released last year.
Professor Donna Ryan from Pennington Biomedical Research Centre in New Orleans, USA, who led the study, said the weight loss was seen irrespective of age, gender and ethnicity.
“This degree of weight loss in such a large and diverse population suggests that it may be possible to impact the public health burden of multiple obesity-related illnesses,” she said.
“While our trial focused on cardiovascular events, many other chronic diseases including several types of cancer, osteoarthritis, and anxiety and depression would benefit from effective weight management.”
The study showed that serious adverse events were less common in those given the drug than those given placebo.
That was largely because people taking Wegovy were less likely to have cardiac disorders.
But people taking the drug were more likely to have gallbladder stones, and were more likely to stop taking treatment because of gastrointestinal problems such as nausea and diarrhoea.
A second analysis of the same group of patients, led by UK researchers, showed that cardiovascular benefits were seen even in patients who only had mild obesity or lost only modest amounts of weight.
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Professor John Deanfield, from University College London, said the finding had “important” clinical implications.
“Around half of the patients that I see in my cardiovascular practice have levels of weight equivalent to those in the SELECT trial and are likely to derive benefit from taking Semaglutide on top of their usual level of care.
“Our findings show that the magnitude of this treatment effect with semaglutide is independent of the amount of weight lost, suggesting that the drug has other actions which lower cardiovascular risk beyond reducing unhealthy body fat.
“These alternative mechanisms may include positive impacts on blood sugar, blood pressure, or inflammation, as well as direct effects on the heart muscle and blood vessels, or a combination of one or more of these.”
However, the researchers warn there isn’t yet evidence that treatment prevents major cardiovascular events.
Semaglutide, the active ingredient of Wegovy, is part of a growing class of GLP-1 drugs that make people feel full, reducing their calorie intake.
A workman saved a seven-year-old boy from a burning car in the aftermath of a deadly crash caused by a suicidal ex-pilot, an inquest has heard.
The schoolboy’s rescue came following the collision on the M6, which killed former RAF man Richard Woods and four others, in October last year.
Last week a coroner ruled that Woods, 40, took his own life by deliberately driving his Skoda the wrong way down the motorway while drunk and hitting a Toyota Yaris head-on.
The driver of the Toyota, Jaroslaw Rossa, 42, was also killed, along with his two sons, Filip, 15, and Dominic, seven, and his partner Jade McEnroe, 33.
Cockermouth Coroner’s Court heard on Thursday that Ms McEnroe’s son was also in the car but survived after workman Gavin Walsh came to his rescue at the scene, which was near Tebay services in Cumbria.
In a statement to the inquest, Mr Walsh said he was a passenger in a transit van travelling to Scotland when he witnessed the crash.
He jumped out of the vehicle and used a jack to smash the rear windscreen of the Toyota and pulled the boy out of the burning vehicle.
Mr Walsh said: “We really did try, I can assure everyone we did our best. We only had minimal time.
“I saved a life that day and I hope never to witness anything like that again.”
He added that he has never stopped thinking about the boy, and said: “I hope we will meet again one day and I will give you a massive hug.”
At the time, the family were returning to Glasgow from a trip to Legoland in Windsor, Berkshire.
The inquest heard that Wood, who was travelling at a speed of at least 65mph, would have been charged with manslaughter had he survived.
Recording conclusions of unlawful killing, Cumbria assistant coroner Margaret Taylor said: “I found that Jaroslaw, Jade, Filip and Dominic died as a consequence of the unlawful acts of another driver.”
The inquest heard how Mr Woods, from Cambridgeshire, had served a distinguished 14-year career in the RAF and was a flight instructor for BAE Systems at the time of his death.
Jade McEnroe. Pic: Cumbria Constabulary
Dominic and Filip. Pic: Cumbria Constabulary
In Ms Taylor’s record of inquest, Mr Woods was said to have been experiencing “a number of stressors in his life” and had a “history of harmful use of alcohol”.
Following the crash, he was found to be nearly four times over the legal drink-drive limit and a two-thirds empty bottle of gin was found in his car.
On the day of his death, concerns had been raised over his behaviour at a work conference near Preston in Lancashire.
Mr Woods failed to return to his seat after lunch and was later spotted driving erratically and swerving across three northbound carriageway lanes on the M6.
After pulling onto the hard shoulder, he then proceeded to U-turn and drove southward on lane three.
Filip, Dominic and Jaroslaw Rossa. Pic: Cumbria Constabulary
Detective Sergeant Deborah Story, from Cumbria Police, told the inquest that Mr Woods would have been prosecuted on four counts of manslaughter had he lived.
She said hypothetical charges of murder were considered by detectives but not thought appropriate because of a lack of information that Mr Woods knew the family or anything that provided a link between them.
Ms McEnroe’s parents, Marie McEnroe and George McNellis, told the coroner they thought it was “murder”.
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A statement from the mother of Filip and Dominic, and the ex-wife of Mr Rossa, Kamila, was read out at the inquest.
She said Mr Rossa, known as Jarek, was born in Poland where they became a couple and went on to have three boys.
He loved playing computer games and had “lots of friends”, she said, and worked at the Wagamama restaurant in Silverburn, Glasgow.
She said she was “devastated” over the deaths, adding: “Our lives will never be the same.
“I am heartbroken at the passing of my beloved angels Filip and Dominic.”
Marie McEnroe said her daughter, a spa therapist, had been in a relationship with Mr Rossa for about two-and-a-half years.
She said Jade had been a “brilliant mother” to her only child, was “really happy” with Mr Rossa and it was “lovely chaos” when all the boys were playing together.
Ms McEnroe added: “Life changed forever that day”.
Ms Taylor praised the “selfless acts of bravery” from those in the aftermath of the collision, including Mr Walsh, who she said went towards the burning car “without hesitation for his own safety”.
The coroner added: “Without his swift response, Jade’s child would also have perished.”
Addressing the bereaved family members, she said: “Your loss is unimaginable but you have conducted yourself with dignity and I thank you for that. I wish you strength for the future.”
Anyone feeling emotionally distressed or suicidal can call Samaritans for help on 116 123 or email jo@samaritans.org in the UK. In the US, call the Samaritans branch in your area or 1 (800) 273-TALK.
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