Ozempic may lower dementia risk, nicotine use

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Good morning! Novo Nordisk‘s blockbuster diabetes drug Ozempic could have more to supply beyond regulating blood sugar and promoting weight reduction. 

That is in keeping with a recent University of Oxford evaluation published last week, which found that Ozempic could lower the danger of dementia and a spread of other mental problems compared with other existing treatments for patients with diabetes. What’s more, researchers found that Ozempic cut nicotine dependence in those patients.

Those findings add to the growing list of potential health advantages of Ozempic and other highly popular GLP-1 treatments, resembling Novo Nordisk’s weight reduction injection Wegovy and medicines from rival Eli Lilly. 

Large clinical trials have already shown that semaglutide, the lively ingredient in Ozempic and Wegovy, can cut the danger of significant cardiovascular complications and kidney disease. Other studies are examining GLP-1s in patients with sleep apnea and fatty liver disease, amongst other conditions, and are evaluating whether the drugs can curb addictive behaviors resembling alcohol use and even gambling. 

Now, let’s dive into the info from the brand new evaluation, published within the Lancet’s eClinicalMedicine journal on Thursday. 

The study relied on medical records from greater than 100,000 U.S. diabetes patients, including greater than 20,000 who were prescribed semaglutide between December 2017 and May 2021. 

Researchers compared semaglutide to 3 other diabetes treatments: Merck‘s Januvia, or sitagliptin; Pfizer‘s Glucotrol, or glipizide; and Eli Lilly and Boehringer Ingelheim’s Jardiance, or empagliflozin. They compared the risks of twenty-two neurological and psychiatric outcomes inside one yr of treatment on the various diabetes drugs.

Overall, Ozempic was related to a lower risk of cognitive problems and nicotine dependence, in keeping with the researchers. 

After a yr, patients who took Ozempic had a 48% lower risk of developing dementia than those on Januvia. The chance in Ozempic patients was also 37% lower than those that took Glucotrol and 9% lower than those on Jardiance. 

Notably, previous research has determined that diabetes patients are at a greater risk of developing dementia. 

Patients who took Ozempic also saw an 18% reduction in nicotine dependence in comparison with those on Januvia. Nicotine dependence was also 28% lower in Ozempic patients in comparison with those on Glucotrol and 23% lower than those on Jardiance. 

“Our results suggest that semaglutide use could extend beyond managing diabetes, potentially offering unexpected advantages within the treatment and prevention of cognitive decline and substance misuse,” Dr. Riccardo De Giorgi, clinical lecturer on the University of Oxford and lead writer of the study, said in a statement. 

However the authors emphasized that the evaluation is observational. The outcomes should be replicated in a controlled trial that assigns patients to randomly take Ozempic and the opposite drugs, in keeping with Dr. Max Taquet, one other Oxford clinical lecturer and senior study writer. 

We’ll proceed to observe for future research on this area, so stay tuned for our coverage. 

Be at liberty to send any suggestions, suggestions, story ideas and data to Annika at annikakim.constantino@nbcuni.com.

UnitedHealth Group‘s cyberattack woes aren’t over yet. 

The health-care giant reported second-quarter results on Tuesday that beat analysts’ estimates on the highest and bottom lines, nevertheless it increased its forecast for the expected per-share impact of the Change Healthcare cyberattack.

UnitedHealth reported $98.86 billion in revenue for the quarter, narrowly edging out the $98.84 billion expected by analysts, in keeping with LSEG. The corporate’s adjusted earnings per share for the period got here in at $6.80, while Wall Street was expecting $6.66 per share. 

UnitedHealth reaffirmed its adjusted earnings outlook of $27.50 to $28 for the complete yr; nevertheless, it disclosed estimated business disruption impacts of 60 to 70 cents per share, up from the 30 to 40 cents per share it provided last quarter. UnitedHealth said business disruption impacts include lost revenue and “the fee of maintaining full readiness” of Change Healthcare’s affected services.

Shares of UnitedHealth were up around 3% Tuesday morning. 

Change Healthcare, a subsidiary of UnitedHealth, offers payment and revenue cycle management tools. It processes greater than 15 billion billing transactions annually, and 1 in 3 patient records passes through its systems, in keeping with its website. 

In February, UnitedHealth discovered that a cyber threat actor had breached a part of Change Healthcare’s information technology network. The corporate isolated and disconnected the impacted systems “immediately upon detection” of the threat, in keeping with a filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.

The disruption caused severe fallout across the U.S. health-care system, as many doctors were temporarily left with no technique to fill prescriptions or receives a commission for his or her services. Some providers took hundreds of dollars out of their personal savings in an effort to stay afloat. 

In May, UnitedHealth CEO Andrew Witty revealed that the corporate paid a $22 million ransom to the attackers in an effort to stop them from publishing patients’ personal health data. He estimated that the breach could affect as many as one-third of all Americans.  

UnitedHealth said Tuesday it has restored “the bulk” of Change Healthcare’s services, in keeping with its earnings release. The corporate said it has also provided greater than $9 billion in advances to providers in need, the discharge said.  

Read UnitedHealth’s full earnings report here.

Be at liberty to send any suggestions, suggestions, story ideas and data to Ashley at ashley.capoot@nbcuni.com.