Just a few months after it was made available on the NHS, a triple-strength dose of Wegovy could be rolled out, which could lead to remarkable weight loss in its patients.
As the likes of Ozempic and Mounjaro began to grow in popularity, particularly among celebrities, the GLP-1 receptor drugs were soon considered by healthcare professionals as a new weight loss treatment.
The drugs, which were primarily designed to treat Type 2 diabetes, work by mimicking the GLP-1 hormone, reducing blood sugar, increasing insulin release and making you feel fuller for longer.
Naturally, that also led to some significant weight loss in patients, and while there are plenty of side effects which have left people worrying, there are now thousands of people who source the drugs as a quick and easy way to lose weight.
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There are strict guidelines within the NHS to only offer Wegovy as a treatment to those at serious risk of heart problems or with a BMI of over 35.
While Wegovy was already proving popular and successful on the NHS, its creator Novo Nordisk has been testing out stronger medications and seems to have had success with a new 'triple-strength' dose, which has seen participants in a medical trial lose around one-fifth of their body weight.
The current approved dosage is 2.4mg, but two international studies have now tested out a 7.2mg dose, which has been deemed to be safe, with 2,000 adults tested in a trial which saw an average of 18.1 percent of body fat lost.
Blood pressure, blood sugar and cholesterol also improved markedly, helping drive down the indicators of heart disease, although side effects such as nausea, vomiting, diarrhoea and constipation were also prevalent in the higher doses.
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Sean Wharton, lead study author and medical director of the Wharton Medical Clinic, Canada, said: “The STEP UP trial demonstrated that we can increase the dose of semaglutide and achieve greater weight loss than previously seen, and in line with semaglutide’s established safety profile. This may offer another option to people who do not attain their weight goals.
“We are already aware that semaglutide can have health benefits for people with heart disease, liver disease, knee osteoarthritis, type 2 diabetes and prediabetes. These findings help to give patients with obesity more options for improvements in their weight and overall health.”
Serious complications were not seen to have been made worse by the higher doses, and only one in 20 patients decided to stop due to the side effects, which suggests that the higher dose could soon become more widely available.
The study authors concluded: "Semaglutide 7.2 mg was well tolerated and provided additional clinically meaningful weight loss compared with 2.4 mg, suggesting that higher doses could help patients who do not achieve sufficient weight loss with the currently approved dose."
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Still, the drug should only be taken when given as an official prescription, if you meet the criteria within the NHS.
James Moorhouse