Semaglutide Explained: STEP, SUSTAIN and SELECT Trials (Philippines)

Filipinos searching semaglutide usually hear about weight loss. But one of its biggest trials was about the heart. Semaglutide is a GLP-1 receptor agonist. It is modelled on GLP-1, a gut hormone released after meals.

Natural GLP-1 is broken down within minutes. Semaglutide carries a fatty acid chain that grips albumin in the blood, so it lasts for days instead. It turns the same receptor: more insulin when blood sugar is high, slower stomach emptying, and less hunger. A question Filipinos often ask: injection or tablet?

Both forms exist. Three trial programs stand out. SUSTAIN, in type 2 diabetes: SUSTAIN 6, 2016, in 3,297 adults: heart attacks, strokes and cardiovascular deaths occurred in 6.6 percent, versus 8.

9 on placebo. STEP, in obesity: in STEP 1, from 2021, adults lost 14.9 percent of body weight over 68 weeks, versus 2.4 on placebo.

And SELECT, 2023: in 17,604 adults with heart disease and overweight but no diabetes, major cardiovascular events fell from 8.0 to 6.5 percent. Side effects were mostly digestive.

In SELECT, 16.6 percent stopped because of side effects, versus 8.2 on placebo. In the US, semaglutide is an approved prescription medicine, injectable since 2017 and tablet since 2019.

Research-grade vials are not approved medicines. In March 2026, the Philippine College of Physicians warned against compounded or unregistered semaglutide. If you are sourcing research peptides in the Philippines, Primara Labs publishes independent lab reports you can verify yourself. Guides at primaralabs.

com.