Feb 11, 2021 11:08am Novo Nordisk estimates that only 10% of 650 million people with obesity currently seek medical treatment, leaving the market wide open for its drug semaglutide. (Creative Commons CC0) Novo Nordisk has taken one step forward in its ambition to move its Type 2 diabetes drug semaglutide into the giant and largely untapped obesity market. And despite the failure of past obesity drugs—not to mention lackluster sales of Novo’s own weight loss product Saxenda—the company’s executives now have even more reason to be optimistic. Data from a phase 3 trial released Wednesday night showed that one-third of patients taking semaglutide, a GLP-1 agonist, lost more than 20% of their body weight during the 68-week trial. The average participant lost more than 33 pounds, and many saw improvements in risk factors for diabetes and heart disease, according to University College London, one of the principle trial sites. The study was published in the New England Journal of Medicine.