• Posted September 13, 2024

Ozempic or Saxenda for Weight Loss: Which Works Best?

Ozempic and its weight-loss cousin, Wegovy, outperform another longstanding weight-loss drug that targets the same hormone associated with blood sugar and appetite, a new study finds.

Ozempic and Wegovy (semaglutide) promoted the loss of 10% or more body weight in 61% of people being treated for obesity and 23% being treated for diabetes after a year on the drugs, researchers reported Sept. 13 in the journal JAMA Network Open.

By comparison, Saxenda (liraglutide) prompted similar weight loss in only 29% of those being treated for obesity and 12% being treated for type 2 diabetes.

Studies have shown that losing 10% or more of body weight provides clinically significant health benefits, researchers said.

This sort of weight loss can improve blood sugar levels and even put diabetes into remission for some, according to the National Institutes of Health. It can also improve cholesterol levels and promote heart health.

“We found that long-term weight reduction varied significantly based on the medication’s active agent, treatment indication, dosage and persistence with the medication,” said lead investigator Hamlet Gasoyan, a researcher with the Cleveland Clinic’s Center for Value-Based Care Research.

The study was funded by the National Cancer Institute. 

Liraglutide was approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration in 2010 to treat type 2 diabetes and in 2014 to treat obesity. Semaglutide is more recent, having received approval in 2017 to treat diabetes and in 2021 to treat obesity.

Both drugs mimic the GLP-1 hormone, which helps control insulin and blood sugar levels, decreases appetite and slows digestion of food.

The study did not include the latest weight-loss drug to enter the fray, Zepbound (tirzepatide). That drug was was approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration in November 2023.

For the study, researchers analyzed data on nearly 3,400 adults treated with either Ozempic or Saxenda between 2015 and 2022.

Most patients received the drugs for type 2 diabetes: 40% of semaglutide prescriptions were for this purpose and 43% of liraglutide prescriptions, researchers said. Only 11% and 6% received semaglutide or liraglutide for obesity.

Average weight change with semaglutide was 13% lost in obesity patients who stuck with the medication for a year and 7% for type 2 diabetes patients.

By comparison, liraglutide produced about 6% weight loss in obesity patients and 3% in type 2 diabetes patients who stuck with the drug for a year.

Overall, people were more likely to lose 10% or more of their starting weight within a year if they received semaglutide, were being treated for obesity, adhered to the drug schedule, had a higher BMI as they entered the study, and were female, results showed.

Higher doses produced more weight loss, researchers found.

“Our findings could help inform patients and providers regarding some of the key factors that are associated with the probability of achieving sustained weight loss of a magnitude large enough to provide clinically significant health benefits,” Gasoyan said in a Cleveland Clinic news release. “Having real-world data could help manage expectations regarding weight reduction with GLP-1 medications and reinforce that persistence is key to achieve meaningful results."

More information

Harvard Medical School has more on GLP-1 drugs.

SOURCE: Cleveland Clinic, news release, Sept. 11, 2024