We could soon be looking at a revolutionary new path to weight loss: a pill that is administered orally. The drug by pharmaceutical company Novo Nordisk is called amycretin and an early stage clinical trial showed that participants lost 13 per cent of their weight while on it for over 12 weeks.
A second, larger phase two trial is planned for later this year with the results expected in early 2026, the company revealed.
Amycretin targets the GLP-1 hormone and stimulates the hormone amylin, which regulates hunger.
Novo Nordisk hosted an international briefing on Tuesday, May 21, at its Dubai One Central office to discuss the current drugs in the pipeline focusing on industry leading innovations and treatments particularly in diabetes, cardiovascular diseases and obesity management.
Hazem Aly, CMR Director – Novo Nordisk Pharma Gulf, said on the sidelines of the event in an interview with Khaleej Times: “The level of awareness about obesity is increasing day by day across the globe, and also in the UAE, which is a very good thing. And people are taking it as a serious situation. Many, many governments and societies are taking this chronic disease as a serious one, considering its repercussions, its complications and association or other co-morbidities. And this is a good thing, of course, because it helps at the end of the day, the patient’s community and the economy.”
Aly went on to explain the importance of competent health care. “It’s very important when you’re dealing with a disease, taking medications to manage your case… to come back to the healthcare professional, to guide you on the proper management and utilisation of your medication. Even if you’re facing different types of side effects that might happen.
“We are also keen to make sure that the safety profile of our medication is being followed up. So we’re trying to keep up our safety update for our medications up to date, in order to be able to have a better understanding about the boundaries or about the usage and about expected side-effects, which, of course, differ from one person to another. What’s most important is that the patient should follow up with an active professional to manage his treatment plan in a proper way.”
Lars Fruergaard Jørgensen, Chief Executive Officer of Novo Nordisk, responded to a question by media on how long one would need to be on Wegovy or other anti-obesity drugs to be able to lose and maintain their weight loss, saying: “Patients are different; some have an aggressive form of obesity – your genetic disposition may mean that you have to be on the most efficacious medicine for life. Even starting on Wegovy, over time you’d need to be on something more efficacious. Then on the other spectrum, you’d find patients who after some months of treatment have responded very rapidly to lifestyle change, they get motivated to changing lifestyle, being more active…”
The pioneering pharmaceutical company, which specialises in game changing diabetes and anti-obesity drugs Ozempic and Wegovy, explains that its drugs are for medical use and target people with high co-morbidities.