United States: At a conference on Saturday, researchers from France introduced a new hydrogel formulation of semaglutide, the active component found in Ozempic, a diabetes medication, and Wegovy, an anti-obesity drug.
The slow-releasing version should help people administer these drugs simply with only once a month injections, not once a week, as it is today, according to the researchers.
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The study was perform by scientists of Adocia which is a France based biotech company, which ultimate mission is to develop formulations of the existing drugs taken for diabetes and obesity.
Users of semaglutide for the treatment experienced an average of 15 percent loss of their body weight in randomized controlled trials, something unheard of when using the conventional methods of diet and/or exercise, gizmodo.com reported.
Initially, it seems to be well endured and safe accordingly, however, people will develop side effects including stomach ulcers, vomiting, and diarrhea among others.
However in usage research only around 40 percent of the patients on the drug remain on it for more than one year. Part of this decrease can be attributed to the dosing regimen of semaglutide, which comes as an injectable and an oral tablet where the injectable comes as one weekly administration while the tablet form as Rybelsus is taken once daily.
What more are the experts stating?
In their bid to design their “Gelzepmic,” (formerly called AdoGel® Sema), the Adocia scientists used a formulation that consisted of two degradable polymers.
The gel is developed in such a manner that upon application, it will release a rather short but strong amount of the drug while releasing a steady stream of the drug for one month.
Like the initial formula, this gel requires only subdermal injection.
In lab tests and from the lab rats, the gel-based semaglutide fared well; the gel released the drug bit by bit when it was needed, the investigators noted. More importantly, there was no evidence of inflammation wherein rats tested the compound safely with no enhanced toxicity.
The findings of the team were placed at the annual meeting of The European Association for the Study of Diabetes (EASD) this weekend.
According to the lead researcher and Adocia scientist Claire Mégret, “Glucagon-like peptide-1 agonist (GLP-1) drugs have transformed type 2 diabetes care, but weekly injections can be burdensome for patients. A single shot a month could make it much easier for people living with diabetes or obesity to stick to their drug regimens, improving quality of life and reducing side effects and diabetes complications,” gizmodo.com reported.