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Compound monograph · evidence extract

Semaglutide in prediabetes and progression to type 2 diabetes — evidence extract

The Institute's graded assessment of Semaglutide for prediabetes and progression to type 2 diabetes, with the contributing trials and the domain-by-domain certainty reasoning.

Document identifier
CEI-MN-001/EV-PREDIABETES
Series
Evidence extract
Version
1.1
Published
16 Sep 2023
Last reviewed
16 Aug 2024
Next review
16 Aug 2026
Identifier
10.71829/cei.mono.1
Certainty
Low
Cycle
2023 Q3

§1Evidence extract: Prediabetes and progression to type 2 diabetes

§1.1Question and anchor outcome

Population
Glucose regulation impaired beyond normal limits but below diagnostic thresholds for diabetes, including impaired fasting glucose, impaired glucose tolerance, and intermediate HbA1c.
Intervention
Semaglutide, subcutaneous once weekly; oral once daily with a permeation enhancer (see separate monograph)
Comparator
As used in each contributing trial; reported per trial rather than pooled across comparator types
Anchor outcome
Incident type 2 diabetes

Additional outcomes the Institute extracts for this indication: Reversion to normoglycaemia; Change in HbA1c; Change in body weight.

§1.2Contributing trials

Table 1. Trials contributing to the assessment of Semaglutide in prediabetes and progression to type 2 diabetes.

TrialPhaseDesignRandomisedDurationYear
STEP-13Randomised, double-blind, placebo-controlled1,96168 weeks2021
STEP-53Randomised, double-blind, placebo-controlled304104 weeks2022

§1.3Certainty assessment

Certainty assessment by domainDowngrading decision recorded for each certainty domain.Certainty domainNo concernSeriousVery seriousEffect on ratingRisk of biasno downgradeInconsistencyno downgradeIndirectnessdowngrade two levelsImprecisionno downgradePublication biasno downgradeTotal downgrading: 2 levelsLow certainty
Figure 2. Domain-by-domain certainty assessment for Semaglutide in prediabetes and progression to type 2 diabetes. The starting rating for a body of randomised evidence is high; each serious concern reduces it by one level and each very serious concern by two.

Table 2. Reasoning recorded against each certainty domain.

DomainRatingReasoning
Risk of biasNo concernNo serious concern identified in this domain.
InconsistencyNo concernNo serious concern identified in this domain.
IndirectnessVery seriousAn outcome that would answer the question was not measured in any contributing trial.
ImprecisionNo concernNo serious concern identified in this domain.
Publication biasNo concernNo serious concern identified in this domain.
Overall rating: Low certainty. Confidence in the effect estimate is limited. The true effect may be substantially different from the estimate.

§1.4What this extract does not establish

References cited on this page

References are numbered in order of first citation in this document. Each superscript in the text links to its entry below.

  1. Wilding JPH, Batterham RL, Calanna S, Davies M, Van Gaal LF, Lingvay I, McGowan BM, Rosenstock J, Tran MTD, Wadden TA, Wharton S, Yokote K, Zeuthen N, Kushner RF. Once-weekly semaglutide in adults with overweight or obesity. New England Journal of Medicine 2021;384(11):989–1002. doi:10.1056/NEJMoa2032183 · PMID 33567185
  2. Davies M, Færch L, Jeppesen OK, Pakseresht A, Pedersen SD, Perreault L, Rosenstock J, Shimomura I, Viljoen A, Wadden TA, Lingvay I. Semaglutide 2·4 mg once a week in adults with overweight or obesity, and type 2 diabetes (STEP 2): a randomised, double-blind, double-dummy, placebo-controlled, phase 3 trial. The Lancet 2021;397(10278):971–984. doi:10.1016/S0140-6736(21)00213-0 · PMID 33667417
  3. Wadden TA, Bailey TS, Billings LK, Davies M, Frias JP, Koroleva A, Lingvay I, O’Neil PM, Rubino DM, Skovgaard D, Wallenstein SOR, Garvey WT. Effect of subcutaneous semaglutide vs placebo as an adjunct to intensive behavioral therapy on body weight in adults with overweight or obesity: the STEP 3 randomized clinical trial. JAMA 2021;325(14):1403–1413. doi:10.1001/jama.2021.1831 · PMID 33625476

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