Semaglutide is so effective in treating arthritis that patients ‘more or less dropped out of the study’

In an intriguing new study, the active ingredient in Ozempic was so effective in treating arthritis that by the end of the study, participants no longer required treatment.

In the descriptions of the new study in the magazine Nature And New York TimesExperts were buzzing about a new landmark study on semaglutide, which showed significant improvements in knee osteoarthritis in studies conducted in 11 countries.

Dr. Bob Carter, deputy director of the National Institute of Arthritis and Musculoskeletal and Skin Diseases, who was not involved in the new study. published this week in New England Journal of Medicinesaid the improvement in knee pain in patents studying arthritis with overweight was incredible.

“The magnitude of improvement is on a scale we haven’t seen before with drugs,” Carter told the magazine. New York Times. “Knee pain has decreased by almost 50 percent. This is a lot.”

Danish rheumatologist and lead director of the study Henning Bliddal spoke about this. Nature that by the end of the study, many patients had such improvement in their knee arthritis that they were no longer eligible for the study.

“They received a therapy that was so effective that they were more or less cured by participating in the study,” said Bliddal, who works at Copenhagen University Hospital in the Danish capital.

Although it is well known that weight loss may help improve knee arthritis Essentially taking some of the stress off the affected area, the results are particularly promising, in part because the exercises are difficult for people with severe knee pain to perform.

A study worth noting was with the support of the manufacturer Ozempic and Wegovy Novo Nordisk – 400 patients on five continents received weekly injections of placebo or semaglutide. All these patients Nature explains that they were obese and had an average score of 71 on a pain scale of 1 to 100, which made it painful for them to walk.

Unsurprisingly, patients taking active semaglutide lost significantly more weight than their counterparts taking placebo, but they also saw a dramatic reduction in pain scores: an average reduction of 42 points compared to 28 points in the placebo group. They also felt greater ease in their daily lives. also mobility, for example when climbing stairs.

While the paper’s authors note that many of these improvements were due to decreased stress on the affected knees, they also suggest that known anti-inflammatory effects of semaglutide also played a role.

Despite these favorable results, the study’s lead author is concerned that once people come off semaglutide-based drugs, weight restoration may also bring back some of the associated arthritis pain.

“Are these guys going to keep taking semaglutide forever?” – asked Bliddal, talking to Nature.

It’s hard to say now, but at least it’s another feather in the cap of these drugs that seem to change the world.

Read more about off-label use of semaglutide: Study finds Ozempic can be used to treat alcohol and drug addiction