According to a new essay, the key ingredient of the best selling medicines could help people to treat severe liver disease before it becomes a threat to life. The results, published on Wednesday in the Revist ‘New England JournalThey are the most recent proof that slimming drugs such as Ozempic or Wegovy could help treat other Health problems in addition to type 2 diabetes and obesity, which is for what they are currently approved in the European Union.
The semaglutida It belongs to a class of medications called agonists of the GLP-1 receptors, which act by suppressing the appetite. But The investigations suggest that could also help in problems as varied as addiction, blood coagulation and dementia. Now, the new study shows that they could be a viable treatment for patients with steatohepatitis associated with metabolic dysfunction (EMA), which occurs when fat accumulates in the liver and causes inflammation and scars.
If not, it can evolve to cirrhosiswhich is advanced and irreversible liver damage. The Mash is not related to alcohol, but with obesity, type 2 diabetes and hypertension. The advanced phase clinical trial was financed by the pharmaceutical Novo Nordisk, which sells semaglutida as Ozempic and Wegovy. They participated in it 800 patients with mash and liver fibrosis Moderate or advanced, that is, accumulation of scar tissue in the liver.
Good results after 72 weeks
After 72 weeks, 33% of patients who took semaglutida Once a week they experienced improvements in both inflammation and liver healing, compared to 16% of those who received placebo or fictional treatment. Regarding inflammation and separate healing, around 63% of patients who took semaglutida reduced inflammation and 37% observed an improvement of healing.
This is compared to 34% and 22%, respectively, of the placebo group. In addition, patients who took Semaglutida lost an average of 10.5% of their body weight. The results of the study are “greatly exciting,” said Debbie Shawcross, a doctor and professor of hepatology and chronic liver failure of the King’s College in London (United Kingdom) and vice -secretary general of the European Association for the study of the liver.
But all the merit is not carried out, because the patients of the drug and placebo groups also They received advice on lifestyle and recommendations on how to control your other health problems. Approximately half of the participants in the study suffered from type 2 diabetes and three out of four were obese.
According to Shawcross, the fact that 34% of the participants of the Placebo group reduced their liver inflammation – without losing a lot of weight – suggests that Changes in lifestyle could also perform An important role in helping people control the Mash.
“This is important, since any treatment authorized for MASH with moderate to serious fibrosis It should be used together with lifestyle interventions“He told ‘Euronews Health’ Shawcross, who did not participate in the new study. In the essay, patients who took semaglutida also experienced some side effects, such as nausea, diarrhea, constipation and vomiting. The adverse effects made 2.6% of them leave the study.
A new potential treatment for Mash
When Novo Nordisk published the main results of the essay in November 2024, the company said I would ask the EU and US regulatory authorities. that will approve the drug for patients with MASH in mid -2025. At that time, Martin Holst Lange, doctor and executive of the company, said that the medicine could help cover an “important need not satisfied” of patients with MASH.
A spokesman for Novo Nordisk did not respond on Wednesday to a request for ‘Euronews Health’ in which an update of the deadlines was requested. In the EU no medicine has yet been approved To treat Mash, but others have also been promising in recent years. The Resmemarom, for example, helped improve liver healing in an advanced phase trial published last year and has received green light in the United States.
It is still being studied by the EU regulatory authorities. Shawcross said it is too soon to know If the semaglutida could change the rules of the game For Patients with MASH, but “it is undoubtedly a powerful tool in the hepatologist arsenal if used together with lifestyle modification programs.”
He pointed out that many people who take medication to lose weight They do not introduce changes in their lifestyle They could help them improve their health if they stop taking them, which is an “important concern for all of us.” “There are many motivations for patients undergoing a close monitoring in essays to make positive adjustments in their lifestyle that may not be seen in the real world,” said Shawcross.
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