Ozempic may be a super drug, Monash University study finds

Diabetes drugs Ozempic and Trulicity have a stigma for their black market use, but a new study has found these “super drugs” actually have a surprising health benefit.

Weight loss drugs such as Ozempic and Trulicity may be “super drugs” that also protect the heart and kidneys in people with diabetes and those who are overweight or obese.

A Monash University team has, for the first time, shown how the drugs directly act to reduce injury-causing inflammation that can lead to deadly heart and kidney disease.

The team discovered how they target a particular hormone receptor and then interact with another receptor called RAGE to control the kidney damage that is the hallmark of Type 2 diabetes.

“We know these drugs, which were developed to tackle diabetes, help with weight loss,” co-lead author Mark Cooper said.

“Until now we didn’t know why they were also associated with less heart and kidney disease.”

Professor Cooper is from Monash University’s Central Clinical School. His co-author is Monash University’s Associate Professor Melinda Coughlan. At the weekend they published the results of the study in the journal Kidney International.

“We have worked out how these drugs might have extra actions,” Professor Cooper said.

“These drugs are very impressive and are probably reducing the body weight partly by reducing appetite and working on the brain, but what our study shows is that they are also reducing inflammation and they interact with other molecules that are involved with inflammation.”

The drug directly acts to reduce injury-causing inflammation. Photo: Mario Tama

Professor Cooper says this might be one of the reasons why there is less heart disease, particularly cardiovascular disease, in people receiving these drugs. The same, he said, could be shown for less kidney disease.

He says drugs like Ozempic and Trulicity are important for use in patients with type 2 diabetes, but also for those who are overweight or obese.

“What this study does is it shows how these drugs reduce inflammation in the body,” Professor Cooper said.

“They are acting outside the kidney and heart, working in the bloodstream to reduce the number of cells that are inflammatory.”

Associate Professor Coughlan said while the outlook for diabetes had improved through new therapies, a significant proportion of people with diabetes still progressed to end stage kidney disease or died prematurely from a cardiovascular event.

“Our study opens up a way to potentially prevent kidney disease in those people who are, so far, treatment resistant,” she said.

The Monash University study found Ozempic can reduce the risk of heart and kidney disease in patients. Picture: Andrew Henshaw

Professor Cooper says a major role of these drugs is to improve diabetes in people who are overweight, but they have the added benefit of reducing two of the most important complications in diabetes and obesity: heart disease and kidney disease.

Next, he said, the team will try to work out which molecule is causing that inflammation to be reduced which may allow in the future to “value add” to what drugs like Ozempic and Trulicity already do.

Professor Cooper said this could first lead to an extended use of the drugs.

“Second, we might find another drug that might be as good or worth adding to what we are using,” he said.

Professor Cooper says while supply of these weight loss drugs remains a global issue, he believes this will settle down

“In the meantime we will know more about the use of these drugs so that when they are more available we will be using them more appropriately.”

Originally published as Ozempic may be a super drug, Monash University study finds