Health and Me

Rachel V Thomas

Weight Loss Drug Semaglutide Cannot Slow Down Alzheimer’s: Lancet Study

While early-stage research raised hopes of oral semaglutide (GLP-1 pill) slowing down the progression of Alzheimer’s disease, results of a new large-scale clinical trial have rendered it ineffective.

Evoke and Evoke+ -- the randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled phase 3 trials conducted across 566 sites in 40 countries -- showed that semaglutide led to no significant difference after two years.

The findings, published in the Lancet journal, however, revealed that the popular weight loss drug can lead to significant reductions in several biological markers of Alzheimer’s disease.

Yet, it did not help slow the progression of the neurodegenerative disease, said an international team of researchers, including those from the University of California-San Diego.  

"Oral semaglutide was not efficacious in slowing clinical progression in participants with early <a href="https://www.healthandme.com/health/alzheimers-disease">Alzheimer's disease</a>," they said in the paper.

"Safety and tolerability of semaglutide in early Alzheimer's disease is consistent with studies in other indications," the team added. 

The studies are the first major phase 3 trials to investigate this possibility in people with early Alzheimer’s disease.  

The researchers conducted the trial on about 3,800 patients aged 55-85 years. The patients received either up to 14 mg of oral semaglutide daily or a placebo pill.  

After two years, no significant difference was seen in slowing down the cognitive disease's progression in patients taking semaglutide and patients taking the placebo.  

"The results of the large evoke(+) trials do not support the efficacy of 14 mg/day of semaglutide given for up to 156 weeks in participants with biomarker-confirmed Alzheimer's disease in the MCI or mild dementia stage," the researchers said. 

While “GLP-1 [drugs] have given us so many wonderful results," the trial results are "disappointing,” and “a setback for the field”, endocrinologist Daniel Drucker was quoted as saying to the Scientific American.  

Drucker says there are many potential explanations why oral semaglutide didn’t work as hoped. The fatty-acid structure surrounding semaglutide might have prevented it from being able to penetrate certain brain regions, such as the hippocampus, which controls memory and cognitive function. 

Alzheimer's disease is a progressive neurodegenerative disease characterised by gradual cognitive and functional decline.

It is one of the most common forms of dementia and mostly affects adults over the age of 65.

Over seven million people in the US, 65 and older, live with the condition, and over 100,00 die from it annually.

The disease is believed to be caused by the development of toxic amyloid and beta proteins in the brain, which can accumulate and damage cells responsible for memory.

Early symptoms of Alzheimer's disease include forgetting recent events or conversations. Other signs include:

<ul><li>losing or misplacing things</li><li>getting lost when walking or driving</li><li>being confused, even in familiar places</li><li>losing track of time</li><li>difficulties solving problems or making decisions</li><li>difficulties performing familiar tasks</li><li>misjudging distances to objects visually.</li></ul>

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While early-stage research raised hopes of oral semaglutide (GLP-1 pill) slowing down the progression of Alzheimer’s disease, results of a new large-scale clinical trial have rendered it ineffective.  Evoke and Evoke+ -- the randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled phase 3 trials conducted across 566 sites in 40 countries -- showed that semaglutide led to no significant difference after two years. The findings, published in the Lancet journal, however, revealed that the popular weight loss drug can lead to significant reductions in several biological markers of Alzheimer’s disease. Yet, it did not help slow the progression of the neurodegenerative disease, said an international team of researchers, including those from the University of California-San Diego.   "Oral semaglutide was not efficacious in slowing clinical progression in participants with early Alzheimer's disease," they said in the paper.  "Safety and tolerability of semaglutide in early Alzheimer's disease is consistent with studies in other indications," the team added.  The EVOKE and EVOKE+ trials  The studies are the first major phase 3 trials to investigate this possibility in people with early Alzheimer’s disease.     The researchers conducted the trial on about 3,800 patients aged 55-85 years. The patients received either up to 14 mg of oral semaglutide daily or a placebo pill.   After two years, no significant difference was seen in slowing down the cognitive disease's progression in patients taking semaglutide and patients taking the placebo.   "The results of the large evoke(+) trials do not support the efficacy of 14 mg/day of semaglutide given for up to 156 weeks in participants with biomarker-confirmed Alzheimer's disease in the MCI or mild dementia stage," the researchers said.  While “GLP-1 [drugs] have given us so many wonderful results," the trial results are "disappointing,” and “a setback for the field”, endocrinologist Daniel Drucker was quoted as saying to the Scientific American.   Drucker says there are many potential explanations why oral semaglutide didn’t work as hoped. The fatty-acid structure surrounding semaglutide might have prevented it from being able to penetrate certain brain regions, such as the hippocampus, which controls memory and cognitive function.  What Is Alzheimer’s DiseaseAlzheimer's disease is a progressive neurodegenerative disease characterised by gradual cognitive and functional decline.It is one of the most common forms of dementia and mostly affects adults over the age of 65.Over seven million people in the US, 65 and older, live with the condition, and over 100,00 die from it annually.The disease is believed to be caused by the development of toxic amyloid and beta proteins in the brain, which can accumulate and damage cells responsible for memory.Early symptoms of Alzheimer's disease include forgetting recent events or conversations. Other signs include:losing or misplacing thingsgetting lost when walking or drivingbeing confused, even in familiar placeslosing track of timedifficulties solving problems or making decisionsdifficulties performing familiar tasksmisjudging distances to objects visually.