Qiana Mosely lost 40 pounds while participating in a clinical trial of the drug semaglutide. “It had to be the meds,” she said. When the trial ended, her weight started to creep up.For the first time, a drug has been shown so effective against obesity that patients may dodge many of its worst consequences, including diabetes, researchers reported on Wednesday.
More than a third of the participants receiving the drug lost more than 20 percent of their weight. Symptoms of diabetes and pre-diabetes improved in many patients. The most effective treatment so far is bariatric surgery, which helps people lose 25 percent to 30 percent of body weight, on average, noted Dr. Louis Aronne, an obesity researcher at Weill Cornell Medicine in New York who advises Novo Nordisk and studies semaglutide.
Generally, insurers have refused to pay for the weight-loss drugs on the market. Semaglutide is likely to be expensive. The lower dose used to treat diabetes carries an average retail price of nearly $1,000 a month. And it is expected that patients would have to take it for a lifetime to prevent the weight loss from coming back.
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