Informational only — Not medical advice. Always consult a licensed healthcare provider.

Shasthya স্বাস্থ্য · Health, made simple
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Community data Updated 23 hours ago
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Indications

Hypertension Hyperlipidemia Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus Diabetes Mellitus Obesity

Semaglutide is used in two ways for diabetes. First, it is an add-on to diet and exercise to improve glycemic control in adults with type 2 diabetes mellitus. Second, it is used to reduce the risk of major adverse cardiovascular events in adults who have type 2 diabetes mellitus and established cardiovascular disease. For obesity, semaglutide is an add-on to a reduced calorie diet and increased physical activity for chronic weight management in adult patients. Their initial body mass index (BMI) should be 30 kg/m2 or greater (obesity), or 27 kg/m2 or greater (overweight) if they also have at least one weight-related comorbid condition (e.g. hypertension, type 2 diabetes mellitus or dyslipidemia).

⚠️ Always consult a registered physician before taking any medicine.

Pharmacology

Semaglutide is a GLP-1 analogue, and its sequence is 94% the same as human GLP-1. It works as a GLP-1 receptor agonist, which means it binds to the GLP-1 receptor and activates it, and it does this selectively.

Semaglutide lowers blood glucose only when glucose is high. It does this by stimulating insulin secretion and lowering glucagon secretion. A minor delay in gastric emptying is also part of how it brings blood glucose down. During hypoglycemia, semaglutide reduces insulin secretion and does not impair glucagon secretion.

It also reduces body weight and body fat mass, because it lowers appetite overall.

Pregnancy & Breastfeeding

Pregnancy: Very few women were exposed to Semaglutide during pregnancy in clinical trials, and there are no adequate, well controlled studies in pregnant women. For this reason, Semaglutide should not be used during pregnancy. If a patient wants to become pregnant, or if pregnancy occurs, Semaglutide should be stopped. Because Semaglutide has a long half-life, it should be stopped at least 2 months before a planned pregnancy.

Lactation: There are no data on whether Semaglutide passes into human milk, what it does to a breastfed infant, or how it affects milk production. Semaglutide contains salcaprozate sodium (SNAC), an absorption enhancer, and it might build up in a breastfed infant. The potential for serious adverse reactions from this is unknown. There are also other formulations of Semaglutide that can be used during lactation. For these reasons, patients should be advised that breastfeeding is not recommended during treatment with Semaglutide. Women should also stop Semaglutide at least 2 months before a planned pregnancy, because the drug takes a long time to wash out of the body.

⚠️ Talk to your doctor before taking any medicine during pregnancy or while breastfeeding.

Dosage Reference

⚠️ Reference ranges from official sources only. Consult your doctor for personalized dosing.

Adults: For Diabetes: Semaglutide tablet: take the tablet at least 30 minutes before the first food, beverage or other oral medicines of the day, with no more than 4 ounces (118 ml) of plain water only. The starter dose is 3 mg once daily for 30 days. After 30 days on the 3 mg dose, increase to the maintenance dose of 7 mg once daily. If additional glycemic control is needed after at least 30 days on the 7 mg dose, the dose can be increased to 14 mg once daily. Semaglutide injection: the starting dose is 0.25 mg once weekly. After 4 weeks, increase the dose to 0.5 mg once weekly. After at least 4 weeks on 0.5 mg once weekly, the dose can be increased to 1 mg once weekly to further improve glycemic control. Weekly doses higher than 1 mg are not recommended. Give the injection once weekly at any time of the day, with or without meals. Inject it subcutaneously in the abdomen, thigh or upper arm. You can change the injection site without adjusting the dose. Semaglutide should not be given intravenously or intramuscularly. If necessary, the day of weekly administration can be changed, as long as the time between two doses is at least 3 days (>72 hours). Once a new dosing day is chosen, continue with once weekly dosing. Switching between the injection and the tablet: patients treated with once weekly Semaglutide injection 0.5 mg can be moved to the 7 mg or 14 mg tablet. They can start the tablet up to 7 days after their last injection. There is no equivalent tablet dose for the 1 mg injection. Patients treated with the 14 mg tablet daily can be moved to the 0.5 mg subcutaneous injection once weekly, and they can start the injection the day after their last tablet. For Obesity: The starting dose is 0.25 mg Semaglutide once weekly for 4 weeks, given subcutaneously. If a patient doesn't tolerate a dose during dose escalation, consider delaying the escalation for 4 weeks. If the maintenance dose of 2.4 mg isn't tolerated, the dose can be lowered temporarily to 1.7 mg once weekly for a maximum of 4 weeks. After those 4 weeks, increase the dose to 2.4 mg again. Weekly doses higher than 2.4 mg are not recommended. Give the injection once weekly at any time of the day, with or without meals. Inject it subcutaneously in the abdomen, thigh or upper arm. The injection site can be changed without dose adjustment. Semaglutide should not be given intravenously or intramuscularly. If necessary, the day of weekly administration can be changed, as long as the time between two doses is at least 2 days (>48 hours). Once a new dosing day is chosen, continue with once weekly dosing.