Popular diabetes and weight loss drug may reduce Alzheimer's risk

researchers Case Western Reserve School of Medicine Researchers have found that semaglutide, a popular diabetes and weight loss drug, may reduce the risk of Alzheimer's disease in people with type 2 diabetes (T2D) when compared to seven other anti-diabetic drugs.

Alzheimer's disease is a brain disorder that slowly destroys memory and thinking ability. According to alzheimer's disease associationapproximately 7 million Americans over the age of 65 are living with the disease, and Alzheimer's disease kills more people than breast and prostate cancers combined.

The study was published today in the journal Alzheimer's Disease and Dementia: Journal of the Alzheimer's Association This suggests that T2D patients taking semaglutide have a significantly lower risk of developing Alzheimer's disease. These results were consistent across different subgroups including obesity status, gender, and age.

Semaglutide is a glucagon-like peptide receptor (GLP-1R) molecule that reduces hunger and helps regulate blood sugar in T2D, and is also the active ingredient in the diabetes and weight loss drugs Wegovy and Ozempic.

Research team led by professor of biomedical informatics Ron Shu—An analysis of three years of electronic records of nearly 1 million U.S. T2D patients. The researchers used a statistical approach that mimics a randomized clinical trial.

They found that patients prescribed semaglutide had a significantly lower risk of Alzheimer's disease compared to patients who took any of seven other antidiabetic drugs, including other types of GLP-1R-targeted drugs. I discovered that.

Approximately 120,000 Americans die from Alzheimer's disease each year, making it the seventh leading cause of death in the United States. CDC.

“Despite preclinical studies suggesting that semaglutide may protect against neurodegeneration and neuroinflammation, this new study provides real-world evidence of semaglutide's impact on Alzheimer's disease.” said Professor Xu, who is also the director of the School of Medicine's Drug Discovery AI Center. Members of the Cancer Genomics Epigenomics Program Case Cancer Center.

Their findings potentially support the idea that semaglutide can prevent Alzheimer's disease, but limitations in the study limit the researchers from definitively concluding a causal relationship. , she said.

“Our results indicate that further research into the use of semaglutide should be further investigated through randomized clinical trials so that alternative drugs can be tested as potential treatments for this debilitating disease. ” said Xu.

For more information, please contact Patty Zamora at patty.zamora@case.edu.