The diabetes drug liraglutide can help obese people who don’t have diabetes lose weight and keep it off, new findings confirm.
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Researchers from the Columbia University Medical Centre found that 63% of participants who were given liraglutide for 56 weeks lost at least 5% of their body weight whereas just 27% of the group not given or the placebo group lost that much.
Here is the sigh of relief as researchers have found that a drug used to treat diabetes can help people in cutting weight who are not diabetic. The manufacturer, Novo Nordisk, says most significant among them is the possibility of developing thyroid tumors, including cancer.
Liraglutide has been available in the United States for treating people with diabetes since 2010.
Liraglutide was approved by Food and Drug Administration (FDA) back in December 2014. All the participants had Body Mass Index (BMI) greater than 30, however, volunteers with high blood pressure and high cholesterol level with BMI 27 and greater also were included for the study. Study participants received counseling and were asked to reduce their intake of food by a small amount and increase their exercise by 150 minutes each week.
Among the patients on liraglutide, 33 percent lost at least 10 percent of their body weight. [7 Biggest Diet Myths]. Also, they had increased of problems related with the gallbladder. But according to Dr. Pi-Sunyer, any gastrointestinal side effects could be minimized or eliminated if patients were started on lower doses; even though for most patients, any side effects go away within 4-6 weeks of usage.
However, the cost of the medication is too high at $1,000 for a month’s treatment. Currently, most insurers don’t cover liraglutide for treating obesity.
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The new drug looks promising for weight loss but it is not without some side effects. The study has been published in the New England Journal of Medicine. “The reason is, we are in the midst of a huge global obesity epidemic, and there’s no question it has not been easy to manage obesity”. They were divided into two groups, one was given Saxenda and the other was served with Placebo – a usual weight loss drug. “There is always room for caution until we have long-term data”. Pi-Sunyer said that the patients who underwent the treatment suffered nausea and diarrhoea.
