Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
Weight Loss Drug's Effectiveness Is Good For Four Years, Study Finds
In a new paper, published in the journal Nature Medicine, a global team of researchers analyzed the impacts of semaglutide over four years of use. These studies were funded by Wegovy and Ozempic's manufacturer, Novo Nordisk. "This is an important study because it adds further evidence to the discussion on the decision to limit prescription to 2 years [...] because of questionable long term cost effectiveness," Simon Cork, Senior Lecturer in Physiology at Anglia Ruskin University in the UK, who was not involved in the study, told Newsweek. (Dewan, 5/13)
Patients taking Novo Nordisk's popular Wegovy obesity treatment maintained an average of 10% weight loss after four years on the treatment, the company said on Tuesday. ... "This is the longest study we've conducted so far of semaglutide for weight loss," Martin Holst Lange, Novo's head of development, said in an interview, referring to the active ingredient in Wegovy and the company's diabetes drug Ozempic. (Fick, 5/14)
Also —
Novo Nordisk A/S’s blockbuster obesity drug Wegovy cut the risk of heart attacks and strokes irrespective of how much patients weighed, a study found, results that doctors said could drive more prescriptions for the medicine. The heart benefit was seen across the board in the Wegovy patients, including people who were overweight but not obese, and in people who didn’t lose much weight, said John Deanfield, a professor of cardiology at University College London, who helped lead the trial. (Kresge, 5/13)