Semaglutide Plus Intensive Behavioral Therapy Most Beneficial for Weight Loss
By Elana Gotkine HealthDay Reporter
FRIDAY, May 23, 2025 -- Weight loss treatment combining personalized semaglutide with intensive behavioral therapy (IBT) yields weight loss similar to that reported in confirmatory trials, with a lower dose of medication, according to a study published online May 12 in The Lancet Digital Health to coincide with the annual meeting of the European Congress on Obesity, hosted by the European Association for the Study of Obesity, from May 11 to 14 in Malaga, Spain.
Søren Seier, from the University of Copenhagen in Denmark, and colleagues examined the effectiveness of an online multidisciplinary weight loss service combining personalized semaglutide doses with IBT in a retrospective cohort study. The study included 2,694 participants who were treated with semaglutide and IBT including personalized evidence-based recommendations on nutrition, exercise, and habits through an online app (The Embla app).
Overall, 1,580, 712, and 465 participants were still included after 26, 52, and 64 weeks, respectively. The researchers found that after 64 weeks, participants had a mean weight loss of −16.7 percent, with a mean semaglutide dose of 1.08 mg/week. Weight loss of at least 5 and 10 percent was achieved by 98 and 83 percent of participants, respectively. Across baseline body mass index class subgroups and across mean medication doses, there was a similar percentage change in body weight.
“Our results show that by giving personalized doses of semaglutide along with diet, exercise, and psychological support, it is possible for patients to achieve clinical trial-level weight loss in their day-to-day lives," Henrik Gudbergsen, M.D., lead researcher and chief medical officer of Embla, said in a press release. “Our ‘treat-to-target’ approach, in which amount of medication was tailored to each patient’s goals, allowed us to keep doses as low as possible, which should mean lower costs and fewer side-effects for patients.”
Several authors disclosed ties to biopharmaceutical companies, including Embla ApS, which funded the study.
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Posted May 2025
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