The US Food and Drug Administration has approved a new weight-loss drug, whose trade name is Wegovy, and the global name for it is semaglutide. How does this drug work?
What weight is expected to be lost by using it?
And what are its side effects?
How much does it cost?
Wegovi is the first weight-loss treatment approved by the US Food and Drug Administration since 2014, according to an FDA statement.
Media reports described it as a game changer, meaning that it makes a big change in the topic of medicines and slimming.
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The drug Lugovi comes in the form of an injection, and is given under the skin.
What caliber wegovy?
Inject 2.4 mg of the active substance semaglutide once a week.
Who can benefit from Wegovi?
Patients with a body mass index (BMI) of 27 or more and who have at least one weight-related condition such as blood pressure, type 2 diabetes or high cholesterol.
Body mass index is calculated by dividing weight in kilograms by the square of height in metres.
Patients with a BMI of 30 or more.
How does Wegovi work?
Wegovi works by mimicking a hormone called glucagon-like peptide-1 (GLP-1) that targets areas of the brain that regulate appetite and food intake.
And people who used the drug lost up to 20% of their weight.
Is it enough to just take an injection to lose weight?
No, people who used wagoff and lost weight also followed a diet and exercise program.
The use of Wegovi should be accompanied by healthy changes in eating and movement habits.
This medication helps control appetite, and may be the starting point for change, but a person must change unhealthy eating habits and exercise.
How much does a Wegovy drug cost?
The cost of treatment is expected to be about $1,200 to $1,300 per month.
What are the side effects?
The most common Lugovi side effects include:
nausea
diarrhea
vomiting
constipation
Abdominal pain
headache
fatigue
Indigestion
dizziness
Flatulence and gas
burping
Hypoglycemia in patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus
Inflammation of the stomach and intestines
gastroesophageal reflux disease
The dose should be gradually increased over 16 to 20 weeks to 2.4 mg once weekly to reduce gastrointestinal side effects.
Contraindications to the use of the drug
Semaglutide carries a warning that it is linked to medullary thyroid cancer, but this harmful effect has only been reported in animal studies (not humans).
However, anyone with a history of rare thyroid cancer should avoid the drug.
People with a rare condition called multiple endocrine neoplasia syndrome type (MEN2) should not take the drug.
Patients with a history of pancreatitis.
People with a history of gallbladder disease.
Patients who have had severe allergic reactions to semaglutide or any of the other ingredients of Wegovi.
Other caveats
If Wigoff is used with insulin or with a substance that causes insulin release, patients should talk to their healthcare provider about the possibility of lowering the dose of insulin or insulin stimulating medication to reduce the risk of low blood sugar.
Health care providers should monitor patients with kidney disease, diabetic retinopathy, depression, or suicidal behavior or thoughts (it may have mood effects).
How much did people who used Wegove lose?
Novo Nordisk, the company that makes the drug, conducted several studies on the safety and effectiveness of the 2.4-milligram dose, and the largest study was 68 weeks and included about 2,000 obese adults without diabetes, and found that people who took 2.4 milligrams of semaglutide per week While participating in a diet and exercise program, they lost significantly more weight than those who made the same lifestyle changes but were given a placebo, according to a report by Barbara Brody for AARP.
Half of the participants in the Wigoffy group lost at least 15% of their weight, and nearly a third were able to lose 20%, while people in the placebo group lost only about 2.4% of their weight.
"The data is pretty impressive," says Dr. Jennifer L. Kirby, associate professor in the Division of Endocrinology and Metabolism at the University of Virginia Health System. "We have a limited amount of tools in our toolbox when it comes to Treating overweight and obesity, and adding semaglutide is excellent news."
How does Wegovi outweigh other medications?
Currently there are only a few other FDA-approved weight-loss drugs on the market, and almost none of them work as well as semaglutide, says Dr. W. Timothy Garvey, a professor at the University of Alabama at Birmingham.
Semaglutide suppresses the appetite by acting in the brain, and as the appetite is controlled, a person is likely to eat less and choose foods with less calories.
Another very similar FDA-approved weight-loss drug is liraglutide sold under the brand name Saxenda, made by the same manufacturer and also sold as a diabetes drug under the brand name Victoza.
Although both are hormone mimics called peptide 1, liraglutide is half as effective as a 2.4-milligram dose of Wegovi, Garvey says.
However, Garvey cautioned that Whigoff is not a quick or easy solution, it helps patients stick to a low-calorie diet, it's not a magic pill, and you still have to pay attention to lifestyle choices and continue to be physically active.
What Wigoffy does is make it easier to stick to the diet and exercise changes necessary to lose weight, which can be very difficult for people who are overweight and obese.
"It's not their fault," Garvey adds. "The mechanism of the disease (obesity) makes them feel hungry, so even if they manage to lose weight, they usually gain it back."