Which pharmaceutical company developed the obesity vaccine?
Denmark-based company Novo Nordisk argues that the vaccine branded "Wegovy", which contains the drug called "semaglutide", which reduces appetite, makes people feel fuller, so they eat less.
Novo Nordisk is a global healthcare company founded in 1923 and headquartered in Denmark, just outside Copenhagen. Its aim is to bring about change that will overcome other serious chronic diseases such as diabetes, obesity, rare blood and endocrine diseases. To this end, they pioneer groundbreaking scientific breakthroughs. It has 80 offices and more than 47,000 employees in 168 countries around the world.
September 2022: Breakthrough, obesity vaccine
Scientists from the University of Alabama in the USA determined that the weekly obesity vaccine reduces the risk of diabetes in half and triggers weight loss. It has been determined that the vaccine, branded "Wegovy", produced by the Novo Nordisk company and containing the drug "semaglutide", which reduces appetite, helps patients lose an average of 15 percent of their body weight. In the first trial, 1,961 overweight and obese patients received an injection of 2.4 milligrams of semaglutide or a placebo (non-drug vaccine) weekly for 68 weeks. In the second trial, 803 overweight and obese participants received weekly injections of 2.4 milligrams of semaglutide for 20 weeks. These patients then either continued using the drug or received a placebo for the next 48 weeks. The researchers used a calculation called "cardiometabolic disease prediction" to predict the risk of developing type 2 diabetes in the next 10 years.
As a result of this calculation, the 10-year type 2 diabetes risk scores for participants who took semaglutide in the first trial dropped from 18.2 percent at baseline to 7.1 percent at week 68. Results from the second trial showed that continued treatment is needed to maintain the reduction in type 2 diabetes risk. Stating that the drug semaglutide can reduce the risk of obese people developing type 2 diabetes by more than 60 percent, lead author of the study from the University of Alabama, Dr. “Semaglutide can be used effectively to reduce the burden of chronic diseases caused by obesity,” said Timothy Garvey. Emphasizing that an average of 15 percent weight loss is "sufficient to treat or prevent various obesity complications that impair health," Garvey said this effect is "a game changer in obesity medicine." The vaccine in question was approved by the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) last year. The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE), which is also a drug watchdog in the UK, has recommended that the vaccine be made available to the NHS, the country's national health system.