Novo Nordisk is conducting a new round of trials on its weight-loss medication to explore whether using it can help people reduce their alcohol intake and treat alcoholic liver disease. At present, the company is seeking to expand the application scope of this weight loss therapy.
This Danish pharmaceutical company has started recruiting personnel for a mid-term trial, with an expected search for approximately 240 patients. The aim of this experiment is to investigate whether patients can use semaglutide and cagglutide to treat liver damage in patients with alcoholic liver disease and help reduce alcohol consumption.
Smegglutide is an active ingredient in Novo Nordisk's best-selling drug Wegovy, while canagliptin is an ingredient in another weight loss drug currently being developed by Novo Nordisk.
It is reported that Novo Nordisk has previously been evaluating the effects of smeglutide on obesity related liver diseases (referring to fatty liver disease associated with metabolic dysfunction), and this study is the first to investigate the effectiveness of treating alcoholic liver disease.
Alcoholic liver disease causes over 30000 deaths in Americans every year. In the past 40 years, the treatment methods for alcoholic liver disease have remained largely unchanged, relying mainly on abstinence, nutritional therapy, and steroids.
The second phase of Novo Nordisk's evaluation of the treatment of alcoholic liver disease is expected to end in June 2025. If the experimental results are proven to be effective, it means that Novo Nordisk weight loss pills provide a new approach for a disease with almost no other treatment options.
Application scope beyond weight loss
Numerous studies so far have demonstrated the health benefits of Novo Nordisk Wegovy beyond weight loss.
A trial conducted in November last year showed that the drug can reduce the risk of death in cardiovascular disease patients by 18%.
Behind this heavyweight result, many people also suspect that the benefits of Wegovy for the heart may be indirectly achieved through weight loss, rather than the direct effect of the medication itself.
A trial called "Select" led by a professor of cardiology at University College London, released this week, found that the benefits of Wegovy in reducing the risk of heart disease and stroke are not closely related to the patient's own weight change, which means that Wegovy itself does have benefits for the cardiovascular system.
This experiment also showed that after four years of continuous treatment with the company's slimming drug Wegovy, patients experienced an average weight loss of 10%, indicating that Wegovy's weight loss effect can be sustained in the long term.
In addition, Novo Nordisk is exploring the possibility of using smeglutide to treat Alzheimer's disease.