11 February 2021 One-third (35%) of people who took a new drug for treating obesity lost more than one-fifth (≥20%) of their total body weight, according to a major global study involving UCL researchers.
The findings from the large-scale international trial, published in the
New England Journal for Medicine, are being hailed as a “game changer” for improving the health of people with obesity and could play a major part in helping the UK to reduce the impact of diseases, such as COVID-19.
The drug, semaglutide, works by hijacking the body’s own appetite regulating system in the brain leading to reduced hunger and calorie intake.