A field of Ozempic made by Novo Nordisk is seen at a pharmacy in London, Britain March 8, 2024.
Hollie Adams | Reuters
Novo Nordisk‘s blockbuster diabetes drug Ozempic could lower the chance of opioid overdoses in sure sufferers, demonstrating its potential as a substitute remedy for opioid use dysfunction, based on a new study launched Wednesday.
The lively ingredient in Ozempic, semaglutide, was related to a “considerably decrease” opioid overdose danger than different diabetes drugs in individuals identified with each Kind 2 diabetes and opioid use dysfunction, stated the paper printed in JAMA Community Open.
The outcomes recommend that Ozempic might provide potential as a device for addressing the continued U.S. opioid epidemic, which was declared a public health emergency in 2017. There are at present three efficient drugs to stop overdoses from opioid use dysfunction, however a brand new different is required as a result of some sufferers merely do not use them, stated lead research co-author Dr. Rong Xu, a biomedical informatics professor at Case Western Reserve College.
In 2022, solely about a quarter of sufferers with opioid use dysfunction obtained really helpful drugs for it, and plenty of discontinued remedy inside six months, based on the Facilities for Illness Management and Prevention. The Nationwide Middle for Drug Abuse Statistics says opioids are a consider around 72% of overdose deaths within the U.S.
The research outcomes additionally add to mounting proof {that a} extremely standard class of diabetes and weight problems remedies known as GLP-1s could have a number of well being advantages past regulating blood sugar and selling weight reduction. Novo Nordisk, its rival Eli Lilly and impartial researchers have been racing to check these medicine’ potential in sufferers with power circumstances starting from kidney illness and sleep apnea to addictive behaviors corresponding to nicotine and alcohol use.
Within the research launched Wednesday, researchers from Case Western Reserve College and the Nationwide Institutes of Well being analyzed the digital information of practically 33,000 sufferers who had been prescribed semaglutide or different diabetes drugs between December 2017 and June 2023. The research was not funded by Novo Nordisk.
Round 3,000 individuals had been prescribed semaglutide injections, whereas the remaining sufferers obtained remedies that ranged from insulins to older GLP-1s for diabetes. That features dulaglutide, the lively ingredient in Eli Lilly’s drug Trulicity, and liraglutide, which is the lively ingredient in Novo Nordisk’s Victoza.
Researchers monitored what number of opioid overdose instances occurred in sufferers throughout a one-year interval after they stopped remedy with semaglutide or different medicine. For instance, there have been 42 instances of opioid overdose amongst a gaggle of sufferers that obtained semaglutide, in contrast with 97 instances amongst one other group that obtained insulins, based on the research.
That displays a 58% decrease danger of opioid overdose in sufferers who took semaglutide, Xu stated.
However Xu famous the research has limitations because it depends on knowledge from digital well being information.
Extra analysis, particularly medical trials that randomly assign sufferers to obtain semaglutide or different remedies, is required to substantiate how a lot Ozempic and different GLP-1s can assist these with opioid use dysfunction, based on the research authors. These randomized research also can decide whether or not these remedies are helpful to the overall opioid use dysfunction inhabitants or solely sure sufferers with the situation.
“The extent to which GLP-1 drugs may benefit remedy of opioid use issues and assist stop overdoses is unclear,” Dr. Nora Volkow, lead research co-author and director of the Nationwide Institute on Drug Abuse of the Nationwide Institutes of Well being, stated in a press release to CNBC. “The preliminary findings from this research level to the likelihood that GLP-1 drugs could have worth in serving to to stop opioid overdoses.”
Xu added that the researchers plan to check semaglutide in sufferers with opioid use dysfunction and weight problems.
