09 July 2026 | Thursday | News
Novo Nordisk announced an update to the Singapore label for semaglutide, approved in Singapore as Wegovy® (semaglutide) injection, incorporating clinical evidence from the STEP UP trial in adults living with obesity without diabetes. In the trial, which evaluated a higher dose of semaglutide (7.2 mg), up to one in three participants receiving the higher dose achieved at least 25% weight loss over 72 weeks, while mean weight loss reached 21%. These findings highlight both the magnitude of weight loss and the importance of how weight is reduced, including meaningful improvements in body composition, offering healthcare professionals another option to support patients in their clinical care.
Additional analyses from the STEP UP trial showed that reduction in fat mass constitute up to 84% of weight loss, highlighting improvements in body composition. The trial also demonstrated patients' reduction in sudden, impulsive loss of control when seeing or thinking about food. This supports other real-world data about people taking semaglutide for weight management experiencing a substantial drop in food noise (unwanted and intrusive thoughts about food).
Obesity is a chronic disease requiring long-term, individualised management. Effective treatment often involves a combination of medical intervention, lifestyle support and continuous follow-up under healthcare professional supervision, with approaches tailored over time to support individual patient needs.
Stephanie Ambrose, Head of Medical and Regulatory Affairs, Novo Nordisk Singapore, shared: "In obesity management, the conversation is shifting from simply how much weight is lost to how that weight is lost. Increasingly, evidence shows that meaningful health outcomes are driven by reductions in fat mass, alongside improvements in appetite control and eating behaviours. This reinforces the importance for healthcare professionals to focus not just on weight reduction alone, but on the quality of weight loss when tailoring long-term treatment approaches."
Wegovy® is indicated in Singapore for weight management in adults with a BMI ≥ 30 kg/m2 or ≥ 27 kg/m2 with a weight-related comorbidity, along with diet and exercise.
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