NDTV Food: Diabetes Drug May Help in Losing Fat

In addition, 63 percent participants on liraglutide lost at least 5 percent of their body weight whereas only 27 percent of the placebo group lost that much. Novo Nordisk, Liraglutide’s manufacturer, was ordered to look further into the drug for any other possible effects.

The liraglutide-based medicine produced by Saxenda has many more uses than that of treating patients with diabetes.

Weight loss drug fact #1: The drug used for treating diabetes is called “Liraglutide” with the brand name of “Victoza”.

The researchers conducted a 56-week trial involving 3,731 patients who did not have Type-2 diabetes and who had a body-mass index (BMI) of 30 or a BMI of at least 27 if they also had high cholesterol or high blood pressure.

In the latest research, the participants were asked to observe a reduced-calorie diet and exercise regimen after being counseled regarding their diet and lifestyle. Almost 2,500 participants received 3.0 milligrams of liraglutide drug daily and about 1,200 were given the placebo injections.

A study published Thursday in the New England Journal of Medicine, has shown a drug, which was originally intended for diabetes patients, to also help obese patients achieve weight loss and improve metabolic control.

Starting patients at a lower dose and then increasing it gradually helps reduce gastrointestinal side effects, Pi-Sunyer said. Pi-Sunyer said that the patients who underwent the treatment suffered nausea and diarrhoea.

However, the cost of the medication is too high at $1,000 for a month’s treatment.

A new drug now hitting the market has been created to treat Type 2 diabetes, but tests are now showing that it may have an additional benefit.

Finally, Siraj adds, “We are dealing with an obesity epidemic and it hasn’t been easy to tackle obesity”.

Despite the drug’s effectiveness in helping obese people lose weight the alleged side effects are something that still needs to be addressed. At the opposite pole, participants who were given placebo drugs diminished their body weight by 10 percent.

“When we generated murine models of CPVT that harbor mutations in the RyR2 channels that make them leaky, we observed that they weren’t secreting enough insulin in response to glucose”, said lead author Gaetano Santulli.

“While there’s room for options, we also have to note that this is not a cure”, he told Live Science.