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Compound Evidence InstituteEvidence synthesis · established 2023Graded assessments of compounds, trials, methods and supply
Document set current to 30 July 2026
Trial abstract · §2

PIONEER-6 — design and population

Design, allocation, arms and the population enrolled.

Document identifier
CEI-TR-0018/2
Series
Trial abstract
Version
3.2
Published
24 Jan 2023
Last reviewed
24 May 2023
Next review
24 May 2025
Identifier
10.71829/cei.trial.18
Certainty
High
Cycle
2023 Q1
Phase
Phase 3
Status
Reported

§2Design and population

§2.1Design and allocation

Design class
Randomised, double-blind, placebo-controlled, event-driven cardiovascular outcome trial
Masking
Double-blind with independent endpoint adjudication
Arms
2
Allocation
Randomised between the intervention and its comparator
Endpoint adjudication
Independent, blinded to assignment
Data monitoring
Independent data monitoring committee with access to unblinded accumulating data

§2.2Arms

Table 2. Randomised arms. Illustrative: arm-level allocations are reconstructed by the Institute from the design class and the randomised total where the published report does not state them.

ArmAllocatedShareDescription
Semaglutide, oral1,60850.5 %Intervention at the dose reached after titration
Placebo1,57549.5 %Matched placebo, administered on the same schedule
Randomised total 3,183 as published. Arm-level splits are reconstructed and are not published figures.

§2.3Population

Indications. Atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease and cardiovascular risk reduction · Type 2 diabetes mellitus

Established atherosclerotic disease of the coronary, cerebral or peripheral arterial beds, or a risk profile sufficient for enrolment in a cardiovascular outcome trial.

Geographic footprint. United States · Canada · United Kingdom · Denmark · Sweden · Belgium · Poland · Australia · New Zealand · Brazil · South Africa · China.

§2.4Eligibility as the Institute reads it

  • Included. Established atherosclerotic disease of the coronary, cerebral or peripheral arterial beds, or a risk profile sufficient for enrolment in a cardiovascular outcome trial.
  • Excluded. Participants for whom the intervention is contraindicated, including as for subcutaneous semaglutide. Exclusion criteria narrow the population to which the estimate applies and are the principal source of indirectness where a trial estimate is applied to ordinary practice.
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