Despite recent concerns about suicidality and other neuropsychiatric issues, a recent study has found that Novo Nordisk’s Ozempic (semaglutide) is associated with lower risks of dementia, cognitive deficit and nicotine misuse.
Novo Nordisk’s Ozempic (semaglutide) may have more health benefits outside of weight loss and blood sugar control, according to a recent study, which found a significant correlation between the GLP-1 receptor agonist and a lower risk dementia and other neurological conditions.
Research investigators cautioned, however, that the study is observational and is not meant to establish a significant clinical benefit of Ozempic in neuropsychiatric diseases. They also highlighted other study limitations, including potential misdiagnoses, incomplete data and residual confounding.
“Our findings instead prompt further investigations into the role of semaglutide for the treatment or prevention of cognitive deficits and nicotine misuse,” the researchers wrote in their study.
For the study, published last week in eClinicalMedicine, researchers from the University of Oxford drew data from the electronic health records of more than 100 million patients. From this database, they constructed three cohorts, each consisting of type 2 diabetes mellitus patients who had been treated with semaglutide between December 1, 2017 and May 31, 2021. These cohorts were then propensity-matched with comparators receiving different diabetes drugs: sitagliptin, empagliflozin and glipizide. (Eli Lilly’s Mounjaro (tirzepatide), which has a mechanism similar to semaglutide’s, was not approved for use in the U.S. until 2022.)
The primary objective of the study was to probe potential links between Ozempic use and neuropsychiatric problems. The drug had recently come under some scrutiny for potentially elevating the risk of suicidal thoughts, with the FDA and European Medicines Agency launching investigations into these side effects. The agencies have since announced that they found no evidence to support a link to suicidality.
Results of the new study showed that Ozempic might instead have significant protective effects against neuropsychiatric outcomes. Compared with sitagliptin, Ozempic was associated with a 48% lower risk of dementia. Novo’s GLP-1 therapy was likewise correlated with a 28% reduction in the likelihood of cognitive deficit versus glipizide and sitagliptin.
The study also found that the risk of nicotine misuse was significantly lower among patients on Ozempic versus comparator treatments.
“Concerns regarding potential neuropsychiatric adverse outcomes associated with semaglutide are not supported by our analyses, which is informative to regulatory bodies, patients, and clinicians,” the researchers wrote.
Aside from helping to clear neuropsychiatric concerns, these latest findings also add to the growing body of potential clinical benefits that Ozempic—and GLP-1 therapies more broadly—may confer. Last week, for instance, a study on JAMA Network Open found that GLP-1 receptor agonists are also linked with significantly lower risks of 10 obesity-associated cancers.
