(Bloomberg) -- Patients taking Novo Nordisk A/S’s Ozempic were at significantly reduced risk of being diagnosed with Alzheimer’s, according to new research that adds to the evidence surrounding the drug’s effects in diseases beyond type 2 diabetes and obesity.
The study looked at semaglutide, the main ingredient in diabetes drug Ozempic and weight loss shot Wegovy, in more than a million patients, using data from electronic health records in the US. The paper, published Thursday in the journal Alzheimer’s & Dementia, found that semaglutide was associated with a 40% to 70% reduced risk of a diagnosis of Alzheimer’s compared with taking other anti-diabetic medicines.
“We have shown that compared to all other anti-diabetic medication this medication, semaglutide, is consistently associated with reduced risk for developing Alzheimer’s disease,” said Rong Xu, a professor of biomedical informatics at Case Western Reserve University, who led the study. The hope, she said, is that other researchers would have much more confidence to fund expensive research on the mechanism underlying why this happens or a clinical trial.
For years, work has been undertaken to assess whether the class of medicines known as GLP-1s could help with Alzheimer’s. Novo Nordisk is currently carrying out clinical trials to assess whether semaglutide might benefit patients with early Alzheimer’s disease.
Further Research Needed
Why semaglutide is reducing patients’ risk of Alzheimer’s is not yet clear, but research suggests the drug could affect nerve cells, potentially impacting inflammation and vascular health that could slow Alzheimer’s progression.
Both obesity and type 2 diabetes are risk factors for Alzheimer’s and other dementias, said Paul Morgan, from the UK Dementia Research Institute at Cardiff University, in a statement to the Science Media Centre. It’s likely that GLP-1s’ impact on dementia risk is a direct consequence of the reversal of type 2 diabetes and the reduction in obesity, said Morgan.
The team behind the new research previously showed people on semaglutide were less likely to overdose on opioids, as well as linking the drugs to a reduction in alcohol use disorder and smoking.
The current research compared semaglutide with several other anti-diabetic medicines including older GLP-1s. Eli Lilly & Co.’s Mounjaro wasn’t included as it was launched too recently to be reflected in the data.
Developing effective Alzheimer’s drugs has been challenging, meaning that re-purposing existing drugs could speed up access, said Sheona Scales, director of research at Alzheimer’s Research UK.
--With assistance from Naomi Kresge.
©2024 Bloomberg L.P.
