Healthy Returns: Diabetes drug Ozempic may lower dementia risk, nicotine use

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Good morning! Novo Nordisk‘s blockbuster diabetes drug Ozempic may have more to offer beyond regulating blood sugar and promoting weight loss. 

That’s according to a new University of Oxford analysis published last week, which found that Ozempic could lower the risk of dementia and a range of other mental problems compared with other existing treatments for patients with diabetes. What’s more, researchers found that Ozempic cut nicotine dependence in those patients.

Those findings add to the growing list of potential health benefits of Ozempic and other highly popular GLP-1 treatments, such as Novo Nordisk’s weight loss injection Wegovy and drugs from rival Eli Lilly. 

Large clinical trials have already shown that semaglutide, the active ingredient in Ozempic and Wegovy, can cut the risk of serious cardiovascular complications and kidney disease. Other studies are examining GLP-1s in patients with sleep apnea and fatty liver disease, among other conditions, and are evaluating whether the drugs can curb addictive behaviors such as alcohol use and even gambling. 

Now, let’s dive into the data from the new analysis, published in the Lancet’s eClinicalMedicine journal on Thursday. 

The study relied on medical records from more than 100,000 U.S. diabetes patients, including more than 20,000 who were prescribed semaglutide between December 2017 and May 2021. 

Researchers compared semaglutide to three other diabetes treatments: Merck‘s Januvia, or sitagliptin; Pfizer‘s Glucotrol, or glipizide; and Eli Lilly and Boehringer Ingelheim’s Jardiance, or empagliflozin. They compared the risks of 22 neurological and psychiatric outcomes within one year of treatment on the different diabetes drugs.

Overall, Ozempic was associated with a lower risk of cognitive problems and nicotine dependence, according to the researchers. 

After a year, patients who took Ozempic had a 48% lower risk of developing dementia than those on Januvia. The risk in Ozempic patients was also 37% lower than those who took Glucotrol and 9% lower than those on Jardiance. 

Notably, previous research has determined that diabetes patients are at a greater risk of developing dementia. 

Patients who took Ozempic also saw an 18% reduction in nicotine dependence compared to those on Januvia. Nicotine dependence was also 28% lower in Ozempic patients compared to those on Glucotrol and 23% lower than those on Jardiance. 

“Our results suggest that semaglutide use could extend beyond managing diabetes, potentially offering unexpected benefits in the treatment and prevention of cognitive decline and substance misuse,” Dr. Riccardo De Giorgi, clinical lecturer at the University of Oxford and lead author of the study, said in a statement. 

But the authors emphasized that the analysis is observational. The results need to be replicated in a controlled trial that assigns patients to randomly take Ozempic and the other drugs, according to Dr. Max Taquet, another Oxford clinical lecturer and senior study author. 

We’ll continue to watch for future research in this area, so stay tuned for our coverage. 

Feel free to send any tips, suggestions, story ideas and data to Annika at annikakim.constantino@nbcuni.com.

UnitedHealth Group‘s cyberattack woes aren’t over yet. 

The health-care giant reported second-quarter results on Tuesday that beat analysts’ estimates on the top and bottom lines, but it increased its forecast for the expected per-share impact of the Change Healthcare cyberattack.

UnitedHealth reported $98.86 billion in revenue for the quarter, narrowly edging out the $98.84 billion expected by analysts, according to LSEG. The company’s adjusted earnings per share for the period came in at $6.80, while Wall Street was expecting $6.66 per share. 

UnitedHealth reaffirmed its adjusted earnings outlook of $27.50 to $28 for the full year; however, it disclosed estimated business disruption impacts of 60 to 70 cents per share, up from the 30 to 40 cents per share it provided last quarter. UnitedHealth said business disruption impacts include lost revenue and “the cost of maintaining full readiness” of Change Healthcare’s affected services.

Shares of UnitedHealth were up around 3% Tuesday morning. 

Change Healthcare, a subsidiary of UnitedHealth, offers payment and revenue cycle management tools. It processes more than 15 billion billing transactions annually, and 1 in 3 patient records passes through its systems, according to its website. 

In February, UnitedHealth discovered that a cyber threat actor had breached part of Change Healthcare’s information technology network. The company isolated and disconnected the impacted systems “immediately upon detection” of the threat, according to a filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.

The disruption caused severe fallout across the U.S. health-care system, as many doctors were temporarily left without a way to fill prescriptions or get paid for their services. Some providers took thousands of dollars out of their personal savings in order to stay afloat. 

In May, UnitedHealth CEO Andrew Witty revealed that the company paid a $22 million ransom to the attackers in an effort to prevent them from publishing patients’ personal health data. He estimated that the breach could affect as many as one-third of all Americans.  

UnitedHealth said Tuesday it has restored “the majority” of Change Healthcare’s services, according to its earnings release. The company said it has also provided more than $9 billion in advances to providers in need, the release said.  

Read UnitedHealth’s full earnings report here.

Feel free to send any tips, suggestions, story ideas and data to Ashley at ashley.capoot@nbcuni.com.