Once-weekly semaglutide lowers risk for type 2 diabetes by more than 60% at 68 weeks
Click Here to Manage Email Alerts
Once-weekly semaglutide 2.4 mg reduces the 10-year risk for developing type 2 diabetes by more than 60% for people with overweight or obesity, according to a speaker at the European Association for the Study of Diabetes annual meeting.
In an analysis of data from the STEP 1 and STEP 4 trials, participants taking once-weekly semaglutide (Wegovy, Novo Nordisk) have a reduction in absolute 10-year type 2 diabetes risk scores as detailed by the cardiometabolic disease staging system from baseline to 68 weeks, and the risk score for those taking semaglutide was lower than those taking placebo at the end of both trials.
“These data suggest semaglutide could help prevent type 2 diabetes in people with overweight or obesity, particularly those at highest risk,” W. Timothy Garvey, MD, FACE, MABOM, professor of medicine at the University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB) and director of the UAB Diabetes Research Center, said during a presentation.
The cardiometabolic disease staging system, a tool to assess the 10-year risk for type 2 diabetes, was applied post hoc to data from the STEP 1 and STEP 4 trials. In STEP 1, 1,961 participants were randomly assigned 2:1 to semaglutide 2.4 mg or placebo once weekly for 68 weeks. In STEP 4, 803 participants took semaglutide 2.4 mg for 20 weeks, after which the cohort was randomly assigned 2:1 to continue semaglutide or switch to placebo through 68 weeks. The cardiometabolic disease staging system incorporates sex, age, race, BMI, blood pressure, blood glucose, triglycerides and HDL cholesterol into a Bayesian logistic regression equation to compute a score that shows the percentage risk for developing type 2 diabetes within the next 10 years.
In STEP 1, participants taking semaglutide had their risk for developing type 2 diabetes decrease by about 61%, from 18.2% at baseline to 7.1% at 68 weeks. The change in type 2 diabetes risk from baseline to 68 weeks in the placebo group was minimal, decreasing from 17.8% at baseline to 15.6% at 68 weeks.
In STEP 4, the study cohort had a 20.6% risk for developing type 2 diabetes within 10 years at baseline. The risk declined to 11.4% at 20 weeks for those taking semaglutide during the entire trial, and further declined to 7.7% at 68 weeks. Participants who started on semaglutide before switching to placebo at 20 weeks had their type 2 diabetes risk drop to 10.7% at 20 weeks. After switching to placebo, the group’s type 2 diabetes risk increased to 15.4% at 68 weeks.
“Continuation of drug treatment was needed to sustain this [type 2 diabetes risk] benefit,” Garvey said.
Among participants in STEP 1 with normoglycemia, the risk for type 2 diabetes decreased from 15.4% at baseline to 6.3% at 68 weeks for those taking semaglutide, with a minimal decrease in those taking placebo from 15.8% at baseline to 14.2% at 68 weeks. For those with prediabetes, the risk for type 2 diabetes decreased from 22.4% at baseline to 8.3% at 68 weeks with semaglutide. Placebo again had a minimal decrease in risk from 21.5% at baseline to 18.3% at 68 weeks.
Collapse
Garvey WT, et al. SO 40. Presented at: European Association for the Study of Diabetes Annual Meeting; Sept. 19-23, 2022; Stockholm (hybrid meeting).
Read more about
Click Here to Manage Email Alerts