Beyond Weight Loss: Can Ozempic-like Drug Help With Alzheimer’s?

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One clinical trial implies that drugs such as Ozempic might possibly be used not only for weight loss and diabetes but to safeguard the brain, and slow the pace at which individuals who have Alzheimer’s lose their capability of thinking clearly, remembering things and performing day-to-day tasks. The outcome needs to be borne out in bigger trials, which are currently underway, before the medication could obtain approval for Alzheimer’s disease.

The study found that the ones who take the diabetes drug liraglutide – an earlier medicine in Ozempic’s classification, known as GLP-1 receptor agonists – had 18 percent slower cognitive decline over the timespan of one year, as compared to the ones who took a placebo.

Though, the trial’s primary goal – changing the pace at which a person’s brain metabolizes glucose – wasn’t met, which scientists suggested might have been a consequence of its tiny size. These findings were shared recently in Philadelphia at the Alzheimer’s Association International Conference and have not been published yet in peer-reviewed journals.

According to a press release from the Alzheimer’s Association, besides the cognition benefit, the trial found that the drug was related to 50 percent less volume loss in multiple brain regions. The findings add to the hope that larger trials that are being run by Novo Nordisk, Ozempic’s maker, are going to be successful.

Beyond weight loss and diabetes 

In recent years, GLP-1 drugs have exploded in use for weight loss and diabetes, and they’ve shown advantages for a broad array of additional health conditions, like protecting the kidneys and heart, decreasing sleep apnea and possibly assisting with addiction.

Research in animals have implied that within the brain, the medication may decrease neuro-inflammation, reduce toxic proteins referred to as tau and amyloid, boost synaptic function, and improve insulin resistance.

The study enrolled predominantly individuals who have mild Alzheimer’s, measured by an observation test referred to as the Mini-Mental State Examination, the scale that will go up to 30. People who had a score of 21 - 26 are believed to suffer from mild Alzheimer’s, and most participants in the trial had a score of around 22, even though some people had scores that were down to 17, which was an indication of moderate Alzheimer’s disease.

It excluded those who have diabetes to attempt to control for any effects of the disease, which is, in and of itself, a risk factor for Alzheimer’s disease.

The trial was ran using liraglutide, a day-to-day injection that is sold under brand names Saxenda for weight loss and Victoza for diabetes, because it is like the GLP-1 hormone discovered in human beings, and it was in the marketplace for diabetes when the trial began approximately 10 years ago.

Ozempic, using the ingredient semaglutide, received US approval for diabetes in the year 2017 and subsequently within the United Kingdom, and Wegovy for weight loss, was approved in 2021 in the United States. They’re offered as injections one time per week.

Also, the GLP-1 drug classification includes Eli Lilly’s Zepbound and Mounjaro, that use the ingredient tirzepatide that mimics not only the hormone GLP-1 yet another named GIP. Plus, a snowballing amount of other companies are attempting to create even more impactful drugs. The existing medications are already in shortage as these companies attempt to keep up with rising demand.

Competing in Alzheimer’s disease

Eli Lilly already has a company in Alzheimer’s that gained approval recently of a treatment referred to as Kisunla which clears the accumulation of amyloid plaques from a person’s brain. However, it has not announced any studies of its GLP-1 drugs in Alzheimer’s disease.

Novo Nordisk, the company that sells semaglutide and liraglutide, portrayed its Alzheimer’s disease studies as a long-shot bet.

Novo Nordisk is conducting its studies using a day-to-day pill form of semaglutide, with an outcome expected as soon as the end of 2025. Rybelsus, an oral form, is currently in the marketplace for diabetes.

In 2020, when it discussed the trials, the Danish company said it had plans to enroll roughly 3,700 individuals who have early Alzheimer’s, with a primary treatment span of around 2 years.

They added in a later presentation that their decision to begin the phase 3 trials was based upon information that included real-world evidence research that showed reduced risks of dementia among individuals on GLP-1 medication, analyses of effects noticed in additional trials and studies that showed that the drugs are related to an improvement in memory function, a reduction in neuroinflammation, as well as systemic anti-inflammatory effects.

Earlier in July, a review by University of Oxford scientists discovered that semaglutide was related to a reduced risk of cognitive issues and nicotine dependence. It was made to evaluate whether or not the drug might have negative effects on a person’s brain and, instead, they discovered the opposite.

GLP-1 drugs may have side effects, although, mainly gastrointestinal issues such as vomiting and nausea. In the liraglutide clinical trial in Alzheimer’s disease, these effects were the most common.

The research obtained a little bit of funding from Alzheimer’s Society UK and Novo Nordisk, as well as others.

More work must be done to show that GLP-1 drugs might be able to help those who have Alzheimer’s disease.

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