Once-weekly semaglutide in people with HIV-associated lipohypertrophy: a randomised, double-blind, placebo-controlled phase 2b single-centre clinical trial

What Was Tested

Researchers studied Semaglutide in this randomized controlled trial publication.

The primary aim of this trial was to investigate effects of the GLP-1 receptor agonist, semaglutide, on adipose tissue in HIV-associated lipohypertrophy.

Why It Was Studied

HIV-associated lipohypertrophy, which is characterised by an abnormal accumulation of abdominal visceral adipose tissue, remains problematic in people with HIV.

Who Took Part

The age groups tagged for this paper are adults and middle-aged adults, both men and women.

Key inclusion criteria included people with HIV aged 18 years or older with controlled HIV-1, a BMI of 25 kg/m2 or more, and lipohypertrophy but without type 1 or type 2 diabetes.

Primary outcomes were changes at 32 weeks in adipose tissue quantity by body compartment.

How the Study Was Run

The design is described as randomized, double-blind and placebo-controlled.

The participants were allocated by chance, so the Semaglutide group and the comparison group should start out alike.

Neither the participants nor the staff measuring them knew who was on Semaglutide, so expectations could not easily colour the readings.

Some participants received a placebo instead of Semaglutide, giving a reference point.

This randomised, double-blind, placebo-controlled phase 2b clinical trial was conducted at a single US site.

Analyses, including safety, were performed using intention-to-treat principles.

This trial was registered ClinicalTrials.gov (NCT04019197) and is complete.

What Was Measured

Topics PubMed links to this paper include Glucagon-Like Peptides, HIV Infections, HIV-Associated Lipodystrophy Syndrome, Intra-Abdominal Fat and Semaglutide.

What This Means in Plain Language

The paper is a randomized, double-blind and placebo-controlled study of Semaglutide.

The abstract goes on to report its results in about 7 sentences; this page does not restate them, so read the paper for the findings and their limits.

The publication is from 2024 (The lancet. Diabetes & endocrinology), a journal based in England.

More context: the Semaglutide compound page, all human trials.