A new study revealed, Liraglutide, an injectable diabetes drug that US regulators approved last year for weight loss, has helped obese people lose an average of 18 pounds (eight kilograms). The findings are published in the New England Journal of Medicine.
The new study, a randomised controlled trial, was conducted at 191 sites in 27 countries across the world, over 56 weeks. Patients in the study were 18 years and older and each had a body mass index of 30 or higher. Of the 3,731 study participants, about two thirds were given the drug plus training to improve their lifestyle habits, and the rest followed the same lifestyle intervention but were given a placebo. Neither patients or doctors knew if they were dealing with the real drug or the placebo.
Participants who received the drug were given a higher dose (three milligrams) than is prescribed for diabetes patients (1.8 milligrams), and were injected with the drug under the skin daily. Researchers found those people in the placebo group lost an average of six pounds.But, those who were given the drug averaged around three times more weight loss. A total of 63 per cent of those in the liraglutide group lost at least five percent of their body weight, compared to 27 percent in the placebo group.
Side effects of liraglutide included gastrointestinal distress, gallstones and a slight increase in breast cancer risk. The researchers suggested that more study is needed on the breast cancer findings, and said it was possible that weight loss enabled more tumors to be found.
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