Semaglutide might reduce the risk of Alzheimer’s disease
Researchers report that patients treated with semaglutide have achieved a significantly lower risk of developing Alzheimer’s disease compared to those exposed to seven other anti-diabetic medications, including other GLP-1R-targeting drugs.
The findings were published on Oct. 24, 2024 in Alzheimer’s and Dementia.
“This new study provides real-world evidence for its impact on Alzheimer’s disease, even though preclinical research has suggested that semaglutide may protect against neurodegeneration and neuroinflammation,” said Rong Xu, PhD, Professor of Biomedical Informatics and Director of the Center for AI in Drug Discovery at Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine in Cleveland, Ohio.
As background, the investigators noted that semaglutide, a glucagon-like peptide receptor (GLP-1R) molecule is also the active component in the diabetes and weight-loss drugs Wegovy and Ozempic.
The investigators conducted emulation target trials, a statistical approach that mimics a randomized clinical trial. They used data from a nationwide database of electronic health records of 116 million US patients.
Comparing semaglutide with seven other antidiabetic medications, they emulated seven target trials with a total of 1,094,761 eligible subjects who had been diagnosed with type 2 diabetes and who had no prior Alzheimer’s disease diagnosis.
They reported that semaglutide was associated with significantly reduced risk for first-time Alzheimer’s disease diagnosis when compared to insulin and with other GLP-1Ras.
“Our results indicate that further research into semaglutide’s use will need to be further investigated through randomized clinical trials so alternative drugs can be tested as potential treatment for this debilitating illness,” Xu said.
