How weight loss drug prove promising in diabetes treatment?
The benefits of the weight-loss medication semaglutide in treating people with Type 1 diabetes were revealed by experts in their study, as the results astounded medical researchers with their miraculous effects.
The drug, also referred to as Ozempic or Wegovy, gained popularity last year as a result of its ability to aid in weight loss.
Apparently, the former is used to treat Type 2 diabetes, while Wegovy is used to help people lose weight.
How weight loss drug proves promising in diabetes treatment
Experts examined data from 10 Type 1 diabetics who took the medication for the study that was published in the New England Journal of Medicine.
Everyone stopped taking their mealtime insulin shots, and seven out of ten people stopped taking insulin altogether after six months.
While referring to two types of insulin — one fast-acting and the other more long-acting — the lead author, Dr Paresh Dandona, said, “I was absolutely shocked that we could get rid of fast-acting insulin in three months and then basal insulin in seven out of 10 patients.”
“It was almost like science fiction,” said Dandona.
“I’m very excited about this,” Dr Dandona said, demonstrating his dedication to transforming the management of Type 1 diabetes. It will, in my opinion, alter how Type 1 diabetes is treated.
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He added that he has already gathered a team of diabetes researchers from different centres across the nation to work on a larger study and that it is necessary. The study can begin once funding has been obtained.
The new findings were praised by experts, who urged more research before making recommendations to the public.
Dr Michael Natter, an endocrinologist at NYU Langone Health, said: “You can’t make too much of a claim based on a small, non-controlled study. We need to see more and larger studies.”
He added that he’s “extremely excited and cautiously optimistic and that as a person with Type 1 diabetes, he has skin in the game.”
“Choosing to focus on newly diagnosed patients was brilliant,” stated Dr Vanita Aroda, director of diabetes clinical research at Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston.
She said the findings are very striking. Large studies need to be done and this is a call to action. We should be taking a look at the patient population with Type 1 diabetes and see if they can benefit from such therapies.”
