Ozempic

Semaglutide (semaglutide) instructions

Generic name: semaglutide
Trade name: Ozempic
Full names: Novotel, semaglutide, semaglutide, Ozempic

Indications:
Adjunct to diet and exercise to improve blood sugar control in adults with type 2 diabetes.
Reduce the risk of major adverse cardiovascular events in adults with type 2 diabetes and established cardiovascular disease.

Usage and dosage:
Inject subcutaneously into the abdomen, thigh or upper arm.
The initial dose is 0.25 mg once weekly. After 4 weeks, increase the dose to 0.5 mg once weekly. If additional glycemic control is required after at least 4 weeks, increase to 1 mg once weekly.
If a dose is missed, it should be taken within 5 days of the missed dose.

Adverse reactions:
The most common adverse reactions are: nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, abdominal pain and constipation

Contraindications:
Allergy to any ingredient in semaglutide.

Precautions:
Pancreatitis: Has been reported in clinical trials. If pancreatitis is suspected, discontinue medication immediately. If pancreatitis is confirmed, do not start over.
Complications of diabetic retinopathy: reported in clinical trials. Patients with a history of diabetic retinopathy should be monitored.
Do not share OZEMPIC pens between patients, even after changing needles.
Hypoglycemia: When OZEMPIC® is used with an insulin secretagogue or insulin, consider reducing the dose of the secretagogue or insulin to reduce the risk of hypoglycemia.
Acute Kidney Injury: Monitor renal function in patients with renal insufficiency who have severe gastrointestinal adverse effects.
Anaphylaxis: If suspected discontinue OZEMPIC® and seek medical advice immediately.

Storage:
Keep unused new semaglutide pens refrigerated at 36℉ to 46℉ until use.
While the semaglutide pen is in use, you can leave it at room temperature (below 86 degrees Fahrenheit). Or you can continue to store it in the refrigerator (at a temperature of 36 to 46 degrees Fahrenheit). Do not freeze semaglutide and do not use it after freezing.
Keep semaglutide away from excessive heat and light.
Keep the pen cap on when not in use and do not connect semaglutide to the needle.
Semaglutide pens in use should be thrown away after 56 days, even if the word semaglutide is still on them.

Mechanism of action:
Semaglutide is a GLP-1 analogue and has 94% homology with human GLP-1. This product is fermented by yeast to produce peptide chains. The long-acting mechanism of semaglutide is based on the modification of the structure. Semaglutide is modified to α-aminoisobutyric acid at position 8 to increase stability and avoid degradation by DPP-4 enzyme. In addition, through structural modification, the lysine position at position 26 of the peptide chain is connected to an 18-carbon fatty diacid side chain. Compared with C16 liraglutide, the increased carbon chain has a 5-6 times greater affinity for albumin. It combines with albumin to increase the molecular weight of this product, avoid rapid renal clearance and metabolic degradation, and extend the half-life in the body.

Safety and efficacy:
In a randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled, multi-center phase 3 clinical trial, a total of 1,864 patients with type 2 diabetes received different doses of oral semaglutide or sitagliptin. These patients still have insufficient control of their blood sugar levels despite treatment with metformin.
The trial results showed that after 26 weeks of treatment, the average HbA1c level of the patient group receiving 7 mg or 14 mg doses of semaglutide decreased by 1.0% and 1.3% respectively, which was significantly better than the active control group (0.8%, p<0.001). At the same time, at 26 weeks, the average weight loss of patients in the 7 mg and 14 mg semaglutide groups was 2.2% and 3.1kg, which was significantly better than that in the active control group (0.6kg, p<0.01).