Higher Dose of Ozempic Further Advances Diabetes Care Management

Novo Nordisk recently announced that a 2.0-milligram dose of Ozempic elicited a “statistically significant and superior” reduction in HbA1C compared to Ozempic 1.0 milligram in patients, greatly advancing diabetes care management. 

Specifically, patients experienced a 2.2 percent reduction in HbA1C with the once-weekly Ozempic 2.0 milligrams, compared to a reduction of 1.9 percent in patients with Ozempic 1.0 milligrams after 40 weeks. 

The Phase 3b SUSTAIN FORTE trial assessed the safety and efficacy of Ozempic 2.0 milligrams versus Ozempic 1.0 milligrams with or without sulfonylureas in 961 adults with type 2 diabetes who needed additional blood sugar reduction.

Ozempic 2.0 milligrams elicited a significant weight reduction of 15.2 pounds compared with Ozempic 1.0 milligrams in a mean baseline body weight of 218.9 pounds.  

And further analyses presented across baseline BMI subgroups showed greater non-significant reductions in body weightwith Ozempic 2.0 milligrams compared with the 1.0-milligram dose, a Novo Nordisk spokesperson explained. 

The incidence of adverse events was similar for both the 1.0-milligram and 2.0-milligram dose groups in the primary analysis and included gastrointestinal events across baseline HbA1C and BMI subgroups.

“Ozempic® has helped millions of people with type 2 diabetes worldwide lower their blood sugar, reduce their risk of major cardiovascular events in adults with established cardiovascular disease and has demonstrated weight reduction for some patients,” Martin Lange, executive vice president of Novo Nordisk, said in the announcement. 

“These data show us that with a higher 2.0 mg dose of semaglutide, we can help even more adults living with type 2 diabetes, who are not at glycaemic control, lower their HbA1c,” Lange continued. 

Ozempic injection 0.5 milligrams or 1.0 milligrams is a once-weekly glucagon-like peptide-1 receptor agonist (GLP-1 RA) indicated along with diet and exercise to improve blood sugar in adults with type 2 diabetes mellitus.

Additionally, Ozempic reduces the risk of major cardiovascular events such as heart attack, stroke, or death in adults with type 2 diabetes mellitus with known heart disease.

In June 2020, Novo Nordisk released results from its two studies, EXPERT and PATHWAY. Both trials showed that individuals with type 2 diabetes on two antidiabetic drugs intensified with a GLP-1 RA were more likely to reach their blood sugar goals and lose weight compared to adding a further oral antidiabetic drug or insulin.

The EXPERTS study showed HbA1c reductions of 2.2 percent for people with HbA1c levels above 9 percent at baseline and HbA1c reductions of 1.1 percent for those with HbA1c levels above 7 percent at baseline.  

The PATHWAY study showed that intensifying treatment with a GLP-1 RA resulted in a substantially increased likelihood of achieving HbA1c below 7 percent and weight reduction from baseline compared with adding further oral antidiabetics.

In the recent announcement, Juan Pablo Frias, MD, medical director of the National Research Institute of Los Angeles and principal investigator of SUSTAIN FORTE, stated that a higher dose of Ozempic can offer individuals the opportunity to further improve their diabetes control. 

Overall, the injectable can help even more adults living with type 2 diabetes who are not at glycemic control lower their HbA1C.