A plain-spoken reading room for the semaglutide literature — the oral tablet and the once-weekly shot, side by side, from STEP 1 and SUSTAIN-6 to SELECT, FLOW and SURMOUNT-5.
Pharmacy Semaglutide

Semaglutide References: The Trials and Studies Cited

How to read these references

Every quantitative claim on this site maps to one of the numbered sources below — the landmark semaglutide trials plus the mechanism and pharmacology studies behind them. Each entry carries a DOI or a PubMed link so you can read the primary source yourself. This is the published record this digest is built from; it is editorial commentary on that record, not medical advice.

Primary trials and studies

The sources span the STEP weight program, the SUSTAIN and PIONEER diabetes programs, the SELECT and FLOW outcome trials, the SURMOUNT-5 head-to-head, the OASIS oral-weight program, and the preclinical mechanism work that explains how semaglutide acts on the brain, pancreas, and gut. Full citations are listed in the reference index below.

  1. Wilding JPH, et al. (STEP 1 Study Group). Once-Weekly Semaglutide in Adults with Overweight or Obesity. N Engl J Med. 2021;384(11):989-1002. ↗
  2. Marso SP, et al. (SUSTAIN-6 Investigators). Semaglutide and Cardiovascular Outcomes in Patients with Type 2 Diabetes. N Engl J Med. 2016;375(19):1834-1844. ↗
  3. Lincoff AM, et al. (SELECT Trial Investigators). Semaglutide and Cardiovascular Outcomes in Obesity without Diabetes. N Engl J Med. 2023;389(24):2221-2232. ↗
  4. Gabery S, et al. Semaglutide lowers body weight in rodents via distributed neural pathways. JCI Insight. 2020;5(6):e133429. ↗
  5. Smits MM, Van Raalte DH. Safety of Semaglutide. Front Endocrinol (Lausanne). 2021;12:645563. ↗
  6. Perkovic V, et al. (FLOW Trial Committees and Investigators). Effects of Semaglutide on Chronic Kidney Disease in Patients with Type 2 Diabetes. N Engl J Med. 2024;391(2):109-121. ↗
  7. Aronne LJ, et al. (SURMOUNT-5 Investigators). Tirzepatide as Compared with Semaglutide for the Treatment of Obesity. N Engl J Med. 2025;392(18):1772-1782. ↗
  8. Aroda VR, et al. Current Understanding of Sodium N-(8-[2-Hydroxylbenzoyl] Amino) Caprylate (SNAC) as an Absorption Enhancer: The Oral Semaglutide Experience. Clin Diabetes. 2023;41(3):361-372. ↗
  9. Knop FK, et al. Oral semaglutide 50 mg taken once per day in adults with overweight or obesity (OASIS 1): a randomised, double-blind, placebo-controlled, phase 3 trial. Lancet. 2023;402(10403):705-719. ↗
  10. Aroda VR, et al. Efficacy and safety of once-daily oral semaglutide 25 mg and 50 mg compared with 14 mg in adults with type 2 diabetes (PIONEER PLUS): a multicentre, randomised, phase 3b trial. Lancet. 2023;402(10403):693-704. ↗
  11. Aroda VR, et al. PIONEER 1: Randomized Clinical Trial of the Efficacy and Safety of Oral Semaglutide Monotherapy in Comparison With Placebo in Patients With Type 2 Diabetes. Diabetes Care. 2019;42(9):1724-1732. ↗
  12. Chuong V, et al. The glucagon-like peptide-1 (GLP-1) analogue semaglutide reduces alcohol drinking and modulates central GABA neurotransmission. JCI Insight. 2023;8(12):e170671. ↗
  13. Singh I, et al. Time and metabolic state-dependent effects of GLP-1R agonists on NPY/AgRP and POMC neuronal activity in vivo. Mol Metab. 2021;54:101352. ↗
  14. Secher A, et al. The arcuate nucleus mediates GLP-1 receptor agonist liraglutide-dependent weight loss. J Clin Invest. 2014;124(10):4473-4488. ↗
  15. Mann JFE, et al. Cardiovascular outcomes with semaglutide by severity of chronic kidney disease. Eur Heart J. 2024;45(40):4203-4212. ↗