Early response to Saxenda predicts improvements in weight loss

New data from a post-hoc analysis of the Phase 3a SCALE clinical development programme were presented at the European Association for the Study of Diabetes (EASD) Annual Meeting.

The data demonstrated that ‘early responders’ in the SCALE Obesity and Prediabetes and SCALE Diabetes trials who lost at least 5% of their body weight after completing 16 weeks of Novo Nordisk‘s Saxenda treatment had greater weight loss after completing 56 weeks, compared with ‘early non-responders’ losing less than 5% body weight with Saxenda after completing 16 weeks.

“These data demonstrate the importance of identifying those adults who respond early to Saxenda,” said Professor Matthias Blüher, head of the obesity outpatient clinic at the University of Leipzig, Germany, and SCALE trial investigator. “Not only are these Saxenda early responders more likely to achieve greater weight loss over time, they are also more likely to experience greater improvements in cardiometabolic risk factors.”

After completing 16 weeks of the SCALE Obesity and Prediabetes trial, 67.5% of adults with obesity or who were overweight with weight-related comorbidities (excluding type 2 diabetes), were early responders to Saxenda  and experienced an average weight loss of 11.5% after completing 56 weeks of treatment, compared with a weight loss of 3.8% for early non-responders.

Early responders demonstrated greater improvements in cardiometabolic risk factors

After completing 16 weeks of the SCALE Diabetes trial, 50.4% of adults with obesity or who were overweight and had type 2 diabetes, were early responders to Saxenda  , with a mean weight loss of 9.3% after completing 56 weeks of treatment compared with a weight loss of 3.6% for early non-responders.

Across both trials, early responders demonstrated greater improvements in cardiometabolic risk factors, including blood pressure, cholesterol and triglycerides, compared to early non-responders.

Saxenda is a once-daily glucagon-like peptide-1 (GLP-1) analogue with 97% similarity to naturally occurring human GLP-1, a hormone that is released in response to food intake. Like human GLP-1, Saxenda regulates appetite by increasing feelings of fullness and satiety, while lowering feelings of hunger and prospective food consumption, thereby leading to reduced food intake. As with other GLP-1 receptor agonists, Saxenda stimulates insulin secretion and lowers glucagon secretion in a glucose-dependent manner. These effects can lead to a reduction of fasting and post-prandial blood glucose.

Saxenda was granted European marketing authorisation in March by the European Commission (EC). It was approved by the FDA in December last year and Health Canada in February.