In a new study, researchers have found that an Ozempic-style drug seems to slow the progression of Alzheimer's, adding to the growing list of potential off-label applications for this groundbreaking class of medications.
Presented this week at the Alzheimer's Association International Conference, this small study out of Imperial College London study focused on 204 Alzheimer's patients in the United Kingdom, per a press release about the results.
In the group who took the active drug liraglutide, a GLP-1 agonist predecessor to Ozempic and Wegovy's semaglutide, patients experienced cognitive decline 18 percent slower than those who took the placebo. As the organization's Dr. Maria Carillo enthused in both the press release and an interview with CNN, these results weren't entirely unexpected.
"We’ve known for some time through animal work that GLP-1 has a different type of activity in the brain," Carillo told CNN, a reference to previous studies in animals showing that liraglutide, which is sold under the brand names Victoza and Saxenda by Ozempic manufacturer Novo Nordisk, can have neuroprotective effects. "This study really demonstrates for us the possibilities that are there."
These results, which are being presented this week at the Alzheimer's Association conference in Philadelphia, haven't yet been published in a peer-reviewed journal and very much need to be demonstrated by larger trials. This is especially true because the researchers who led the small trial didn't find, as they hoped, that liraglutide changes the rate at which the brain processes glucose.
Still, as Imperial College's Professor Paul Edison suggested in the press release about the trial he led, the findings do hold potentially groundbreaking promise.
"The slower loss of brain volume suggests liraglutide protects the brain, much like statins protect the heart," Edison explained. "While further research is needed, liraglutide may work through various mechanisms, such as reducing inflammation in the brain, lowering insulin resistance and the toxic effects of Alzheimer's biomarkers amyloid-beta and tau, and improving how the brain's nerve cells communicate."
Edison pointed out in the press release that those who took the active drug in the double-blind study also experienced 50 percent less volume loss, another hallmark of the degenerative disease, in several areas of the brain that dictate memory, language, and decision-making.
As with semaglutide and other GLP-1 drugs, the most common side effect experienced by the patients who received active liraglutide was nausea, which accounted for just over a quarter of all adverse events in that group.
Despite the enthusiasm surrounding this trial into GLP-1's potential effect on Alzheimer's, both Novo Nordisk nor Eli Lilly, which makes Ozempic and Wegovy competitors Mounjaro and Zepbound, consider the neuroprotective investigations into these drugs to be long-shots, CNN reports.
Be that as it may, this new potential off-label use may make these uber-popular drugs even more attractive to doctors and patients alike.
"Repurposing drugs already approved for other conditions has the advantage of providing data and experience from previous research and practical use," Carillo said in the press release, "so we already know a lot about real-world effectiveness in other diseases and side effects."
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