Wegovy Study in Severely Obese French Patients
No Muscle Loss or Decreased Basal Metabolic Rate After Weight Loss
"Muscle Mass Preservation and Improved Muscle Function Confirmed"
The common belief that "losing weight also leads to muscle loss" appears to be different for patients treated with the glucagon-like peptide-1 (GLP-1) obesity drug Wegovy. According to recent research conducted on severely obese patients in France, Wegovy may alleviate concerns about muscle loss and decreased basal metabolic rate associated with weight loss.
On November 26, Yonhap News reported that the SEMALEAN study, published in the international endocrinology journal "Diabetes, Obesity and Metabolism," tracked patients with an average body mass index (BMI, calculated as weight divided by the square of height) of 46 for one year. The results showed that the group treated with Wegovy experienced muscle loss of around 3 kilograms, which accounted for only about 18% of their total weight loss. The SEMALEAN study evaluated the effects of semaglutide (a GLP-1 analogue) in patients with obesity.
The researchers stated that not only did the Wegovy group achieve significant average weight loss, but most of the weight lost was due to a reduction in fat. This means that patients' bodies changed not just by becoming lighter, but by losing fat while largely preserving muscle mass.
The study also highlighted notable functional changes in the body. The proportion of patients with "sarcopenic obesity"-a body type characterized by low muscle mass and high fat-dropped sharply from 49% to 33%. This indicates that although patients lost weight, their body composition actually improved to a healthier state.
Some patients who had sarcopenic obesity before treatment no longer met the criteria for this diagnosis after one year. Indicators of muscle function, such as grip strength, also improved, overturning the conventional belief that weight loss inevitably leads to reduced physical strength.
According to Yonhap News, this study is the first real-world, long-term follow-up evidence to confirm all of the following: fat-centric weight loss, muscle mass preservation, muscle function improvement, and maintenance of metabolic efficiency. Real-world studies assess the effectiveness and safety of drugs or treatments in actual clinical settings, and can typically be conducted only after some time has passed following a drug's development, approval, and market release.
Novo Nordisk's injectable obesity treatment Wegovy surpassed 400,000 official prescriptions in South Korea just 11 months after its domestic launch in October of last year.
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