GLP-1 implant from Vivani Medical aims to help patients stay on treatment
Vivani Medical is developing a long-term semaglutide implant designed to help patients maintain weight loss and improve adherence to GLP-1 treatments. The company has partnered with Novo Nordisk to evaluate the device, which aims to replace frequent injections with a twice-yearly or annual implant.
Why it matters
This technology addresses the high discontinuation rates of popular weight-loss drugs, potentially improving long-term health outcomes for obesity and diabetes patients.
Losing weight with GLP-1 drugs is only half the battle. Keeping it off long term has proved even harder.
Factors such as side effects, high out-of-pocket costs, injection fatigue and stigma around obesity treatment drive troves of patients – some studies estimate roughly half or more – to stop GLP-1s within a year and risk regaining the weight they lost.
Years from now, Vivani Medical believes a tiny GLP-1 implant placed under the skin could help address that problem.
The biotech company is in the early stages of developing an experimental implant of semaglutide, the active ingredient in Novo Nordisk 's blockbuster obesity injection Wegovy and diabetes counterpart Ozempic. The Danish pharma giant announced on Tuesday a new agreement with Vivani to evaluate its lead semaglutide implant, NPM-139.
Get smarter about the news
Sign up free for a feed built around what you actually care about, Dive Deeper research on any story, and the full text of every article.
Create free accountAlready have an account? Sign in