The evidence for GLP-1 receptor agonists keeps growing, while access for low-income patients keeps narrowing.
|Articles|June 29, 2022
Daily Medication Pearl: Semaglutide (Wegovy)
Author(s)Saro Arakelians, PharmD
Semaglutide (Wegovy) is indicated as an adjunct to a reduced calorie diet and increased physical activity for chronic weight management in adult patients.
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Medication Pearl of the Day: Semaglutide (Wegovy)
Indication:
Insight:
- Dosing: Initiate at 0.25 mg once weekly for 4 weeks. In 4-week intervals, increase the dose until a dose of 2.4 mg is reached.
- Dosage forms: Injection of pre-filled, single-dose pen that delivers doses of 0.25 mg, 0.5 mg, 1 mg, 1.7 mg, or 2.4 mg.
- Adverse events: The most common adverse reactions reported in greater than or equal to 5% of patients treated with semaglutide are nausea, diarrhea, vomiting, constipation, abdominal pain, headache, fatigue, dyspepsia, dizziness, abdominal distension, eructation, hypoglycemia in patients with type 2 diabetes, flatulence, gastroenteritis, and gastroesophageal reflux disease.
- Mechanism of action: Semaglutide is a GLP-1 analogue with 94% sequence homology to human GLP-1. Semaglutide acts as a GLP-1 receptor agonist that selectively binds to and activates the GLP-1 receptor, the target for native GLP-1.
Source:
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