Better than Ozempic? New weight loss drug is ‘so effective’

Ozempic 2.0?

Researchers say they have found a new use for GLP-1, the hormone the body produces naturally after eating. Drugs like Ozempic mimic GLP-1 to make people feel full, thereby reducing their cravings.

In this new therapy, GLP-1 acts as a “Trojan horse” that smuggles special molecules directly to the appetite control center of the brain. In a study testing a single drug that delivered both the hormone and the molecules, mice that took it lost more weight than those that took the existing drugs.

“The effect of GLP-1 combined with these molecules is very strong. In some cases, mice lost twice as much weight as mice treated with GLP-1 alone,” explained the study’s lead author, Christoffer Clemmensen, associate professor at the Novo Foundation’s Center for Basic Metabolic Research. Nordisk at the University of Copenhagen in Denmark. Novo Nordisk manufactures Ozempic and Wegovy.

People tend to lose 15 to 20 percent of their weight with Ozempic or similar drugs, although about ⅓ of users only lose about 10 percent, according to the Columbia University Department of Surgery.

Clemmensen said the new therapy could pave the way for patients to achieve the same effect with a lower dose. Additionally, it could provide an alternative for people who do not respond well to these medications.

Common side effects include nausea, diarrhea, stomach pain, vomiting, and constipation.

“Our studies in mice show side effects similar to those experienced by patients treated with weight-loss drugs available on the market today, including nausea,” Clemmensen said.

“But because the drug is so effective, we may be able to reduce the dose and thus alleviate some side effects in the future – although we still don’t know how humans respond to the drug,” he added. .

The drug still needs to undergo three phases of clinical trials on human participants. Clemmensen said it could take eight years before it is available to the public.

Clemmensen’s findings were published last week in the journal Nature.

“I consider the drugs available on the market today to be the first generation of weight-loss drugs,” Clemmensen said. “We have now developed a new type of weight loss drug that affects brain plasticity and appears to be very effective.”