- A brand new 68-week trial discovered that weekly injections with CagriSema resulted in weight lack of as much as 14.2% in contrast with 10.2% for semaglutide (Wegovy).
- CagriSema additionally lowered HbA1C scores on common by 1.91%-points in contrast with 1.76%-points for semaglutide.
- This new drug is a fixed-dose mixture of semaglutide and cagrilintide, an amylin receptor agonist.
GLP-1 medicines have acquired quite a lot of publicity due partly to their use in treating weight problems, although their preliminary use was for treating kind 2 diabetes.
Glucagon-like peptide-1 can:
- stimulate insulin secretion round meal occasions
- lower the secretion of glucagon, a hormone that raises blood sugar ranges
- lower how rapidly the abdomen empties, slowing digestion and the rise of blood sugar after consuming
- create a sensation of abdomen fullness that may cut back urge for food and meals consumption.
These results could make a distinction for some individuals with type 2 diabetes or weight problems who’ve discovered that different medical or lifestyle-based therapies haven’t helped.
It’s manufactured by Novo Nordisk, the pharmaceutical firm behind a latest trial assessing the potential of a next-generation drug, CagriSema.
CagriSema combines semaglutide with one other drug known as cagrilintide, an amylin receptor agonist. This mimics the results of the hormone amylin and may decelerate abdomen emptying, lower glucagon secretion after meals, and management urge for food.
Novo Nordisk are at the moment working two analysis programmes to research using CagriSema within the therapy of kind 2 diabetes and chubby and weight problems.
Lately, the corporate has announced the most recent outcomes from the REIMAGINE 2 scientific trial for adults with kind 2 diabetes investigating the effectiveness of CagriSema. Their findings haven’t but appeared in a peer-reviewed journal.
The REIMAGINE 2 trial ran for 68 weeks and concerned a complete of two,728 members with kind 2 diabetes that was not adequately managed by metformin.
Round 40% of the members had been additionally utilizing an SLG2 inhibitor earlier than the trial started. SLG2 inhibitors are a sort of treatment that causes the physique to expel extra glucose from the bloodstream into an individual’s urine.
Members acquired weekly doses of one of many following:
- CagriSema 2.4/2.4 milligrams (mg), which means 2.4 mg of cagrilintide and a pair of.4 mg of semaglutide
- CagriSema 1 / 1 mg, or 1 mg of cagrilintide and 1 mg of semaglutide
- 2.4 mg of semaglutide
- 1 mg of semaglutide
- 2.4 mg of cagrilintide
- a placebo.
“As CagriSema is a hard and fast dose mixture, it’s a regulatory requirement to show that the mix is protected and efficient for the goal inhabitants and supplies additional advantage over the person parts,” a spokesperson for Novo Nordisk defined for Medical Information At this time.
“CagriSema 2.4/2.4 mg was due to this fact in contrast in opposition to the person parts: semaglutide 2.4 mg and cagrilintide 2.4 mg, respectively,” the spokesperson detailed.
Earlier than starting, the researchers measured the members’ physique weight and HbA1C results, a mean blood sugar stage to replicate the earlier 2–3 months.
The imply baseline physique weight was 101 kilograms (kg) and the imply baseline HbA1C rating was 8.2%.
The researchers discovered that after 68 weeks, if members adhered to their therapy plan, the group taking CagriSema 2.4/2.4 mg had better common modifications of their physique weight and HbA1C outcomes than the group that simply took 2.4 mg of semaglutide.
Particularly, the CagriSema 2.4/2.4 mg group had a mean HbA1C discount of 1.91%-points and weight lack of 14.2%, in contrast with the semaglutide 2.4 mg group’s common reductions of 1.76%-points and 10.2%, respectively.
When not taking a look at full adherence to therapy plans, the researchers reported related outcomes.
Right here, the CagriSema 2.4/2.4 mg group had a mean HbA1C discount of 1.80%-points and physique weight discount of 12.9%. For the semaglutide group, these averages had been 1.68%-points and 9.2% respectively.
“By combining semaglutide and cagrilintide, we’re seeing superior outcomes in each blood glucose management and weight discount past these achieved with every remedy individually,” mentioned Martin Holst Lange, government vp, chief scientific officer, and head of Analysis and Improvement at Novo Nordisk within the firm’s official announcement.
“The outcomes strengthen our perception that CagriSema may very well be the primary amylin-based mixture remedy and a promising therapy choice for people with kind 2 diabetes, [which] additionally has a give attention to weight reduction,” mentioned Holst Lange.
Novo Nordisk expects to current the total outcomes of the trial at a scientific convention later this yr.
MNT spoke to Mir Ali, MD, a bariatric surgeon and medical director of MemorialCare Surgical Weight Loss Heart at Orange Coast Medical Heart in Fountain Valley, CA, who was not concerned with the examine, about its findings.
“This trial signifies that there are extra medication on the horizon and extra treatment choices will likely be obtainable to sufferers,” Ali mentioned.
“The factor to pay attention to is that these are very early outcomes completed by the producer,“ he cautioned. “It should require scientific trials by impartial entities to delineate the true effectiveness and aspect impact profile of this and all new medicines.”
Following the outcomes of earlier trials, Novo Nordisk submitted a New Drug Software to the Meals and Drug Administration (FDA) in December 2025 for using CagriSema to help and keep weight reduction alongside food plan and train changes.
Ought to it obtain approval, this software would set the drug up for use in the identical circumstances as Wegovy.
Within the meantime, Novo Nordisk has additional trials ongoing for CagriSema. In addition to additional testing for kind 2 diabetes, chubby, and weight problems, they can even be seeing how its effectiveness and security examine with tirzepatide (model names Mounjaro, Zepbound).
“I feel a greater comparability can be this new treatment versus tirzepatide,” Ali mentioned to MNT. “[Tirzepatide] works on two hormone receptors and has been proven in scientific trials to be more practical than semaglutide.”
This comparability could have rather a lot using on it provided that tirzepatide is a drug manufactured by competitor Eli Lilly and Firm.
Ali added that it was vital to maintain some perspective when trying on the outcomes of this trial:
“The factor that folks contemplating these medicines ought to remember is that these are instruments to assist change to a more healthy food plan and way of life. Research additionally present that stopping these medicines sometimes leads to vital weight acquire, so long-term therapy is probably going essential.”
