Novo Nordisk’s widely used diabetes drug Ozempic delayed progression of chronic kidney disease in diabetes patients, a large late-stage study found, cutting the risk of death from that and major cardiac events by 24%.
The trial results are the latest indication that drugs from the GLP-1 class, which suppress appetite by mimicking gut hormones, have medical benefits for conditions beyond type 2 diabetes and weight-loss, their initial purposes.
[ Around 40% of people with type 2 diabetes have chronic kidney disease and some 700 million patients are affected globally, according to the Danish drugmaker.
Novo (NOVOb.CO), opens new tab stopped the trial in October, almost a year ahead of schedule, because it was clear from an interim analysis that the treatment would succeed.
“The trial achieved its primary endpoint by demonstrating a statistically significant and superior reduction in kidney disease progression as well as cardiovascular and kidney death. The trial called FLOW started in 2019 and involved approximate 3,500 patients with type 2 diabetes and moderate to severe chronic kidney disease, who were given 1 milligram (mg) of once-weekly semaglutide in addition to standard care. “The positive results demonstrate the potential for semaglutide to become the first GLP-1 treatment option for patients living with type 2 diabetes and chronic kidney disease,” said Novo’s head of development, Martin Holst Lange.
The dialysis market has for decades been sustained by high rates of obesity and diabetes, which paves way to kidney damage. The potential for GLP-1s to treat health problems beyond diabetes and obesity has hit shares in providers of bariatric surgery to treat obesity, food firms and glucose-monitoring device makers.