Steve Christo – Corbis | Corbis news | Getty Images
Novo NordiskBlockbuster diabetes drug Ozempic may reduce the risk of Alzheimer's disease, suggesting it may delay or prevent the memory-robbing condition, according to a study published Thursday.
Semaglutide, the active ingredient in Ozempic, was associated with a 40% to 70% lower risk of an initial diagnosis of Alzheimer's disease in patients with type 2 diabetes compared to seven other diabetes medications. These include insulin and older so-called GLP-1 drugs that are similar to Ozempic, the study says.
Alzheimer's disease is often diagnosed in the mild stage of dementia, when a person has significant memory and thinking problems. According to the Alzheimer's Association, nearly 7 million Americans suffer from the disease, the fifth leading cause of death in adults over 65. But the number of Alzheimer's patients in the United States is expected to rise to nearly 13 million by 2050.
There are no cures for Alzheimer's, only medications that treat the symptoms of the disease or slow the progression of the disease in people in its early stages. But a potential preventive treatment like semaglutide could prove even more useful, said study lead co-author Dr. Rong Xu, professor of biomedical informatics at Case Western Reserve University.
Because when many patients are diagnosed with the disease, “it is often too late for treatment,” Xu told CNBC. She added that many of the risk factors for Alzheimer's, such as obesity, diabetes and smoking, are preventable and “modifiable.”
The findings add to growing evidence that GLP-1, a popular class of anti-obesity and diabetes drugs, may provide health benefits beyond promoting weight loss and regulating blood sugar. These include Ozempic, the weight loss drug Wegovy from Novo Nordisk and medications from Eli Lilly this works a little differently.
Novo Nordisk and its rival Eli Lilly have been studying their drugs as possible treatments for chronic conditions such as sleep apnea and fatty liver disease. Novo Nordisk, which did not fund the new Case Western study, is also studying semaglutide in a late-stage study in Alzheimer's patients.
The new Case Western study published Thursday builds on other research published in July on a once-daily diabetes and obesity drug called liraglutide, which Novo Nordisk sells under the brand names Saxenda and Victoza. In liraglutide research, data from a mid-stage trial found that the drug may slow the progression of Alzheimer's disease by protecting patients' brains.
In the study published Thursday, Case Western researchers analyzed three years of electronic records from nearly one million U.S. patients with diabetes who had not previously been diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease. The study was funded in part by the National Institutes of Health.
The study compared semaglutide to seven different diabetes medications, including insulin and a drug called metformin. This also includes other GLP-1s such as liraglutide and a drug from Eli Lilly called dulaglutide.
According to the study, semaglutide was associated with an approximately 70% lower risk of a first diagnosis of Alzheimer's disease compared to insulin, a nearly 60% lower risk compared to metformin, and a 40% lower risk compared to other GLP-1 antibiotics. Semaglutide was also associated with significantly lower prescriptions of medications related to Alzheimer's disease, according to the study.
Similar risk reductions were seen in all patients in the study, regardless of their gender, age group and whether they had obesity.
However, the study has limitations because it relies on data from electronic health records. Xu called for more research, particularly clinical trials in which patients are randomly assigned to treatment with semaglutide or other treatments, to confirm the extent to which Ozempic and other GLP-1s may help prevent or delay Alzheimer's disease.
Xu and the research team also plan to investigate whether GLP-1 can prevent Alzheimer's disease in patients with obesity. However, they want to wait a year or two until GLP-1s approved for weight loss are on the market longer so that more patients have data to analyze. Wegovy received approval in the US in 2021, while Eli Lilly's weight loss injection Zepbound only came onto the market last fall.
Comments are closed.