Efficacy and safety of once-weekly semaglutide in Japanese individuals with type 2 diabetes by baseline age and body mass index.

AIMS/INTRODUCTION: Many East Asians with type 2 diabetes are elderly and have a low body mass index (BMI), especially in 'super-aged' populations, such as Japan. This post-hoc analysis assessed once-weekly semaglutide efficacy and safety in Japanese individuals with type 2 diabetes across baseline age and BMI subgroups. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Data were derived from the Semaglutide Unabated Sustainability in Treatment of Type 2 Diabetes (SUSTAIN) Japan monotherapy and SUSTAIN Japan oral antidiabetes drug (OAD) combination trials comparing once-weekly semaglutide with sitagliptin or OADs, respectively. Participants were grouped by baseline age (<65 and ≥65 years) and/or BMI (<25 and ≥25 kg/m ). Reductions from baseline in glycosylated hemoglobin and bodyweight (efficacy), and adverse events (safety) were assessed. RESULTS: In this analysis, participants from the SUSTAIN Japan monotherapy trial (n = 308; n per subgroup; range, 8-73) and SUSTAIN Japan OAD combination trial (n = 601; n per subgroup; range, 20-168) were included. Reductions in glycosylated hemoglobin and bodyweight were numerically greater with semaglutide versus comparators across all age and BMI subgroups. Reductions from baseline in glycosylated hemoglobin ranged from -1.7 to -2.1 with semaglutide 0.5 mg, -1.8 to -2.4 with semaglutide 1.0 mg and -0.6 to -1.0 with comparators. Corresponding ranges for bodyweight (kg) were -1.0 to -2.5, -2.4 to -4.3 and 1.0 to -1.0 kg, respectively. The safety profile of semaglutide was broadly similar across BMI and age subgroups. CONCLUSIONS: In this post-hoc analysis with modest subgroup numbers, once-weekly semaglutide appeared consistently more efficacious versus comparators across age and BMI subgroups in Japanese patients, with a similar safety profile.