Summary
Novo Nordisk provided updates on its next-generation obesity and diabetes drug, CagriSema, a potential successor to Ozempic and Wegovy.
CagriSema combines semaglutide with an amylin and calcitonin receptor agonist, promising enhanced weight loss and blood sugar regulation.
Early trials showed 15.6% weight loss over 32 weeks, and executives are optimistic larger trials could show up to 25% weight loss.
Results from late-stage trials are expected by mid-2025.
Can someone more knowledgeable than me please ELI5 how this drug is so revolutionary and why it only came to be recently? Based on what I see on articles, it seems like the equivalent of a cure for cancer, but for obesity amd weight loss instead. Is it the result of years and years of research and testing, and/or a breakthrough discovery of the chemical that makes it work?
It’s a happy accident. They were working on a diabetes treatment, which they did develop. The side effects included weight loss, so it started to get prescribed off-label for that. Then they did the required testing to get it approval for weight-loss.
It works because it is a fake hormone that mimics GLP-1, a hormone that is involved with appetite regulation. When it binds to the GLP-1 receptors it causes more insulin to be released in response to sugars which lowers blood sugars. The weight loss doesn’t come from that, though, it comes from the appetite suppression.
A lot of people seem to think you can eat as much as you want while you’re taking it. That’s technically true, but really because you won’t want to eat much.