JAMA

Semaglutide compared to placebo with behavioral therapy for weight loss in adults with overweight or obesity

Updated

Abstract

At week 68, the estimated mean body weight change was -16.0% for semaglutide compared to -5.7% for placebo.

  • 86.6% of participants treated with semaglutide lost at least 5% of their baseline body weight, compared to 47.6% in the placebo group.
  • A higher proportion of those receiving semaglutide achieved weight losses of at least 10% (75.3% vs 27.0%) and 15% (55.8% vs 13.2%) compared to placebo.
  • Gastrointestinal adverse events were reported more frequently in the semaglutide group (82.8%) than in the placebo group (63.2%).
  • Treatment discontinuation due to gastrointestinal events occurred in 3.4% of semaglutide participants, while none of the placebo participants discontinued treatment for this reason.

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Full Text

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Funding

Competing interests

Conflict of Interest Disclosures: Dr Wadden reports receiving grants from Novo Nordisk (from grant support to the University of Pennsylvania) and personal fees from Novo Nordisk for service on a scientific advisory board during the conduct of the study, as well as personal fees from WW International (formerly Weight Watchers) for service on a scientific advisory board outside the submitted work. Dr Bailey reports receiving grants, personal fees, and nonfinancial support (writing assistance) from Novo Nordisk during the conduct of the study. Dr Billings reports receiving personal fees from Novo Nordisk, Sanofi, and Eli Lilly outside the submitted work. Dr Davies is co-funded by the NIHR Leicester Biomedical Research Centre and reports receiving consulting fees from Novo Nordisk; advisory board member, speaker, and consulting fees from Sanofi-Aventis, Eli Lilly, Merck Sharp & Dohme, Boehringer Ingelheim, AstraZeneca, and Janssen; advisory board fees from Lexicon, Servier, and Gilead Sciences Ltd; speaker fees from Napp Pharmaceuticals; and grants from Novo Nordisk, Sanofi-Aventis, Lilly, Boehringer Ingelheim, AstraZeneca, and Janssen outside the submitted work. Dr Frias reports receiving research support grants from Novo Nordisk during the conduct of the study; grants and personal fees from Boehringer Ingelheim, Eli Lilly, Merck, Novo Nordisk, and Sanofi; and grants from Janssen and Pfizer outside the submitted work. Dr Koroleva reports being an employee of Novo Nordisk A/S and holding shares in the company. Dr Lingvay reports receiving advisory board fees and consulting fees from AstraZeneca, consulting fees from Bayer HealthCare Pharmaceuticals, Eli Lilly and Company, Intarcia, Intercept Pharmaceuticals, Janssen Global Services, MannKind Corporation, Target Pharma, Valeritas, and Zealand Pharma; advisory board fees from Boehringer Ingelheim and Sanofi US Services; grant support, paid to UT Southwestern, from Merck; grant support, paid to her institution, from Mylan Pharmaceuticals and Pfizer; grant support, paid to UT Southwestern; and advisory board fees, consulting fees, and travel support from Novo Nordisk. Dr O'Neil reports receiving grants from Novo Nordisk during the conduct of the study; grants from Epitomee Medical, Eli Lilly, and WW International; and personal fees from Robard, Gedeon Richter, WebMD, and Novo Nordisk outside the submitted work. Dr Rubino reports receiving writing assistance from Novo Nordisk during the conduct of the study; serving as a clinical investigator for AstraZeneca, Boehringer Ingelheim, and Novo Nordisk; and reports owning Novo Nordisk shares of stock outside the submitted work. Dr Skovgaard reports spousal employment at Novo Nordisk. Dr Wallenstein reports receiving personal fees from Novo Nordisk during the conduct of the study and outside the submitted work. Dr Garvey reports receiving grants from Novo Nordisk; serving as site principal investigator for the clinical trial, which was sponsored by his university during the conduct of the study; receiving grants from Lexicon and Pfizer outside the submitted work; and serving as an ad hoc consultant on advisory committees for Jazz Pharmaceuticals, Boehringer Ingelheim, Novo Nordisk, and Pfizer. In each instance, he received no financial compensation, nor was there a financial relationship. No other disclosures were reported.
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