Semaglutide: an effective antidiabetic agent with proven cardiovascular benefit in clinical practice
Abstract
Semaglutide is glucagon-like peptide 1 receptor agonist (GLP-1 RA) with a high rate of homology with human GLP-1. Due to the structure and ability to bind to the albumin, it has a sufficiently long half-time elimination allowing the application once weekly.
Excellent effect of semaglutide to improve diabetes control by the reduction of glycated haemoglobin, postprandial and fasting glycaemia and significant weight loss was demonstrated in the extensive clinical trial programme SUSTAIN. These effects were significantly greater compared to other GLP-1 RAs, oral antidiabetic drugs and also basal insulin.
Semaglutide is one of the antidiabetic drugs with proven cardiovascular benefit in people with a history of cardiovascular disease or high cardiovascular risk. The most common side effects of semaglutide are similar to other GLP-1 RAs and are connected to the gastrointestinal tract, but there are no differences from this perspective when comparing to others in this antidiabetic class.