Novo Nordisk’s Ozempic may reduce risk of Alzheimer’s disease: study

Novo Nordisk‘s blockbuster diabetes drug Ozempic may reduce the danger of developing Alzheimer’s disease, suggesting its potential to delay or prevent the memory-robbing condition, in accordance with a study released Thursday. 

Semaglutide, the energetic ingredient in Ozempic, was related to a 40% to 70% lower risk of a first-time Alzheimer’s diagnosis in patients with Type 2 diabetes compared with seven other diabetes medications. That features insulin and older so-called GLP-1 drugs just like Ozempic, the research said. 

Alzheimer’s disease is commonly diagnosed within the mild dementia stage, when an individual has significant trouble with memory and considering. Almost 7 million Americans have the condition, the fifth-leading explanation for death for adults over 65, in accordance with the Alzheimer’s Association. However the variety of Alzheimer’s patients is projected to rise to almost 13 million within the U.S. by 2050. 

There are not any cures for Alzheimer’s, only drugs that treat the symptoms of the disease or slow the progression of the condition in people on the early stages of it. But a possible preventive treatment reminiscent of semaglutide may prove much more useful, said lead study co-author Dr. Rong Xu, a biomedical informatics professor at Case Western Reserve University. 

That is because by the point many patients are diagnosed with the disease, “it’s often too late for treatment,” Xu told CNBC. She added that lots of the risk aspects of Alzheimer’s, reminiscent of obesity, diabetes and smoking, are preventable and “modifiable.” 

The outcomes add to mounting evidence that GLP-1s, a preferred class of obesity and diabetes medications, may offer health advantages beyond promoting weight reduction and regulating blood sugar. That features Ozempic, Novo Nordisk’s weight reduction injection Wegovy, and medicines from Eli Lilly that work barely in a different way. 

Novo Nordisk and rival Eli Lilly have been studying their drugs as potential treatments for chronic conditions reminiscent of sleep apnea and fatty liver disease. Novo Nordisk, which didn’t fund the brand new Case Western study, can be examining semaglutide in a late-stage study on Alzheimer’s patients. 

The brand new Case Western study released Thursday builds on other research released in July on a once-daily drug for diabetes and obesity called liraglutide, which Novo Nordisk sells under the brand names Saxenda and Victoza. Within the liraglutide research, data from a midstage trial found that the drug may slow the progression of Alzheimer’s disease by protecting patients’ brains. 

Within the study released Thursday, researchers from Case Western analyzed three years of electronic records of nearly 1 million U.S. patients with diabetes who didn’t have a previous Alzheimer’s diagnosis. The study was partly funded by the National Institutes of Health. 

The study compared semaglutide with seven different diabetes medications, including insulin and a drug called metformin. It also includes other GLP-1s, reminiscent of liraglutide and a medicine from Eli Lilly called dulaglutide. 

Semaglutide was related to a roughly 70% lower risk of first-time Alzheimer’s diagnosis compared with insulin, an almost 60% lower risk compared with metformin and a 40% lower risk compared with other GLP-1s, in accordance with the study. Semaglutide was also related to significantly lower prescriptions for Alzheimer’s disease-related medications, the study said. 

Similar reductions in risks were seen across patients within the trial, no matter their gender, age group and whether or not they had obesity. 

However the study has limitations because it relies on data from electronic health records. Xu called for more research, specifically clinical trials that randomly assign patients to receive semaglutide or other treatments, to substantiate how much Ozempic and other GLP-1s might help prevent or delay Alzheimer’s disease. 

Xu and the team of researchers also plan to review whether GLP-1s can prevent Alzheimer’s in patients with obesity, but they wish to wait one or two years for GLP-1s approved for weight reduction to be in the marketplace longer so there may be more patient data for them to research. Wegovy won approval within the U.S. in 2021, while Eli Lilly’s weight reduction injection Zepbound only entered the market last fall.