english.prescrire.org > Spotlight > Archives : 2025 > Semaglutide (Wegovy°) in excess body weight: sometimes useful for patients who also have a history of cardiovascular disease

Spotlight: Archives

Every month, the subjects in Prescrire’s Spotlight.

2025 : 1 | 30 | 60

Semaglutide (Wegovy°) in excess body weight: sometimes useful for patients who also have a history of cardiovascular disease

 Marketing Authorisations  The glucagon-like peptide 1 (GLP-1) agonist semaglutide was authorised in the European Union in 2021 for use in certain patients with overweight or obesity. At that time, in the absence of the results of the ongoing "Select" trial evaluating the effect of semaglutide versus placebo on the cardiovascular complications of excess body weight, it was preferable that these patients not count on this drug and that the focus be placed instead on a comprehensive (non-pharmacological) approach. Results from the Select trial were published in a scientific journal in 2023, and then presented in Prescrire International. In 2024, the European Medicines Agency (EMA) and the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA), which have access to far more data than those presented in medical journals, published their public reports on the Select trial online.
Full article available for download by subscribers

 ©Prescrire 1 November 2025

Source: "Semaglutide (Wegovy°) in excess body weight" Prescrire Int 2025; 34 (275): 268-269. Subscribers only.

Filet

Enjoy full access to Prescrire International, and support independent information

 
Share
Share on Facebook  
 
 
See also:

"Semaglutide (Wegovy°)
for excess body weight.
No proven efficacy
against clinical complications
as of late 2022"
Prescrire Int 2023;
32 (245): 36-38.
 
"Semaglutide in secondary
cardiovascular prevention
in overweight or obese
patients"
Prescrire Int 2024;
33 (260): 157-158.
Subscribers only