Ozempic, the diabetes drug from Novo Nordisk that has become a rage also for its ability to reduce weight, may also reduce the risk of developing Alzheimer’s disease in diabetic patients.
In a new study published in the Alzheimer’s & Dementia journal, semaglutide (the active ingredient in Ozempic, Wegovy and other GLP-1 treatments), was associated with a 40 to 70 per cent lower risk of a first-time Alzheimer’s diagnosis in diabetes patients, compared with seven other diabetes medications.
The study said it has the potential to delay or prevent the memory-robbing condition.
The seven other diabetes medications included insulin and Metformin.
Alzheimer’s is a common type of dementia, accounting for around 60 to 80 per cent of all dementia cases. People with the debilitating disease experience progressive memory loss and cognitive decline, and are unable to carry on with their day-to-day life in advanced conditions.
It is incurable. There are now drugs that treat the symptoms of the disease or slow the progression of the condition in early stages.
Alzheimer’s Association stats show that almost seven million Americans are said to be suffering from the condition, which has become the fifth-leading cause of death for adults over 65.
Dr Rong Xu, co-author of the study and a biomedical informatics professor at Case Western Reserve University, told CNBC that many of the risk factors of Alzheimer’s, such as obesity, diabetes and smoking, are preventable and modifiable, and added: “By the time many patients are diagnosed with the disease, it’s often too late for treatment”.
Novo Nordisk did not fund the new Case Western study, but is said to be examining semaglutide in a late-stage study on Alzheimer’s patients.
The Case Western Reserve researchers examined three years of medical records for over one million Type 2 diabetic people in the United States.
Six different populations were identified who had never been diagnosed with Alzheimer’s: all patients, people ages 60 and above, women, men, patients with obesity, and patients without obesity.
Seven target trials were conducted for each group, comparing semaglutide with insulins, metformin, dipeptidyl-peptidase-4 inhibitors, sodium-glucose cotransporter-2 inhibitors, sulfonylureas, thiazolidinediones, and other GLP-1Ras.
When they analyzed the data, they found that semaglutide use was associated with 40 per cent to 70 per cent less risk of being diagnosed with Alzheimer’s in patients with Type 2 diabetes.
Compared to other medicines, semaglutide was associated with a roughly 70 per cent lower risk of first-time Alzheimer’s diagnosis with insulin, 60 per cent lower risk compared with metformin and a 40 per cent lower risk compared with other GLP-1s.
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