Companies explore other uses for popular weight loss injections
Both pharmaceutical companies are actively investigating and testing these drugs for a broader range of medical conditions beyond their current uses for diabetes and weight loss.
New conditions under exploration include alcohol use disorder, Alzheimer's disease, heart failure, chronic kidney disease, and a type of fatty liver disease called non-alcoholic steatohepatitis.
Significant developments include Ozempic's US approval for reducing kidney failure risk in diabetes patients and Zepbound's US approval for obstructive sleep apnea in December 2024.
Novo Nordisk has indicated that increased competition and the emergence of copycat versions are expected to affect Wegovy sales this year.
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
The Guardian
14 minutes ago
- The Guardian
‘The pain was unbearable': the agonising cost of England's ‘cowboy' cosmetic clinics
Plans to cut down on 'cowboy' cosmetic procedures have been introduced by the government, meaning that only qualified healthcare professionals will be able to perform high-risk treatments. Clinics administering fillers and Botox will need to meet strict standards to obtain a licence as part of the Department of Health and Social Care proposals to protect people from 'rogue operators' with no medical training who often provide 'invasive' procedures in homes, hotels and pop-up clinics. Officials said that people have been left 'maimed' by beauty procedures, with some deaths linked to poor care. One woman who was left with significant injuries after such a treatment told the Guardian she had been left with issues that could last a lifetime. Triggs, 40, from Leeds, was left with significant bruising and swelling after paying £100 for an Endolift, a non-surgical laser treatment used for skin tightening and fat reduction on the face and body. The laser works by inserting a thin, microoptical wire deep into the skin layer, which is used to boost collagen and melt little pockets of fat. Triggs said: 'I had visited this particular clinic before, for other cosmetic treatments such as skin boosters and waxes, so I thought I was in safe hands when they offered me a treatment to tighten and lift my face. 'As soon as the treatment began I knew something was not right. The pain was unbearable and the bruising started instantly.' Although the procedure was advertised as an Endolift, Triggs received a counterfeit version of the treatment, which usually costs about £2,000 when administered by a medical specialist. EndoliftX® has said it has seen a 250% rise in non-medics administering counterfeit versions of its device over the past year. Triggs said: 'I was left with significant bruising and swelling which lasted months, and I have now just found out that I have post inflammatory pigmentation issues which, if not treated by a professional, will last a lifetime.' She added: 'It is so important to me to warn others about what to look for when booking in a treatment, and that undergoing an unregulated, counterfeit procedure will more than likely cause much more harm than good. Find a trained, well-established professional who has experience in the treatment you are looking for and has the knowledge on safety. I am now months down the line trying to fix my mistake.' Dr Priya Verma, a registered EndoliftX® practitioner and aesthetic doctor, said that alongside a lack of regulation within the cosmetic industry, counterfeit laser machines were a rising concern. 'Increasingly patients are seeking out non-surgical facelifting procedures or body-contouring procedures, and actually there's a rise in the ability of people to acquire skin-tightening treatments on websites like Alibaba for as little as £400,' Verma said. 'They're fuelling the problem further because they are then training other non-medical practitioners in how to do these procedures unsafely.' Alice Webb, a 33-year-old mother of five, is believed to be the first person in the UK to die after a non-surgical Brazilian butt-lift procedure last year. Webb, who died at Gloucestershire Royal hospital last September, is believed to have had a procedure that involved dermal filler being injected into the buttocks. In an interview with ITV News, Webb's partner, Dane Knight, said her death could have been avoided if these regulations had come into place sooner. 'Knowing the risks in the complications, it wouldn't have happened,' Knight said. 'I hope something gets put in place before it happens again and another family is ripped apart and destroyed. Because it will, if something's not done sooner rather than later.' Knight added: 'It's a shame that it's taken someone's life for it now to be pushed out and for people in power to start listening and to enforce this law to stop other families and other people's lives being destroyed.'
Reuters
2 hours ago
- Reuters
US appeals court reinstates drug-price conspiracy lawsuit against Sanofi, rival pharma companies
Aug 6 (Reuters) - Drugmakers Sanofi, Eli Lilly, Novo Nordisk and AstraZeneca must face a lawsuit from two health centers accusing them of conspiring to restrict drug discounts offered to community pharmacies that contract with providers serving low-income patients. A three-judge panel of the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in New York ruled, opens new tab that federally funded Mosaic Health and Central Virginia Health Services can move ahead for now with their proposed class action. The appeals court in its unanimous order reversed a decision by a federal judge dismissing the lawsuit. The clinics contend the drugmakers schemed in 2020 to limit discounts on diabetes drugs that were available to safety-net providers purchasing drugs from some pharmacies through a federal program known as "340B." As direct competitors, the four defendants control the diabetes drug marketplace, which would make imposing restrictions "easy to coordinate and maintain,' Circuit Judge Myrna Pérez wrote in the ruling, joined by Circuit Judges Alison Nathan and Maria Araújo Kahn. A Sanofi spokesperson in a statement said the company was reviewing the opinion and considering its next steps. Eli Lilly, Novo Nordisk and AstraZeneca did not immediately respond to requests for comment. The companies have denied any wrongdoing. Brian Feldman, a lead attorney for the health clinics, in a statement called the 2nd Circuit's order a 'watershed moment' and said 'we look forward to seeking justice for safety-net providers.' Mosaic Health operates 22 clinics in New York, and Central Virginia Health Services runs 18 clinics in Virginia. The two clinics sued in 2021 seeking damages for alleged revenue lost from the discount program's savings. The plaintiffs told the appeals court that Sanofi and the other manufacturers made billions of dollars in additional profits 'at the expense of safety-net providers and, ultimately, the patients they serve.' In a court filing, the drugmakers called the plaintiffs' claims 'far-fetched' and said the clinics were trying to punish the companies for implementing policies designed to address what they said were 'well-documented' abuses of the 340B program. Drugmakers must participate in the program to receive funds from government health insurance programs like Medicare and Medicaid. The case is Mosaic Health Inc v. Sanofi-Aventis U.S. LLC et al, 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, No. 24-598. For plaintiffs: Brian Feldman of Aurelian Law For defendants: Allon Kedem of Arnold & Porter Kaye Scholer Read more: Wegovy maker Novo hit with investor class action over revenue forecast cut AstraZeneca agrees to $51 million settlement in Seroquel antitrust class action Mylan to pay $73.5 mln to settle drug wholesalers' EpiPen antitrust claims US Supreme Court gives pharma companies a chance to thwart terrorism-funding lawsuit
BBC News
2 hours ago
- BBC News
More than 400 indirect deaths linked to LA wildfires, study suggests
More than 400 additional deaths are estimated to be linked to the wildfires that ravaged Los Angeles earlier this year, according to a new study. The figure, published on Wednesday in the medical journal JAMA, looks at deaths that have been attributed to factors caused by the wildfires, like poor air quality and delays in accessing is a higher figure than the official death count of 31 by the Los Angeles County, which tallied deaths caused directly by the study comes as hundreds of wildfires burn across the US and Canada, prompting air quality advisories in cities like Chicago, Buffalo and New York. The Palisades and Eaton fires tore through Los Angeles in January, destroying thousands of structures and leading to the evacuation of more than 100,000 Los Angeles wildfires are becoming faster and more furiousThe far-reaching impacts of wildfire smoke – and how to protect yourselfThe latest study revealed that around 440 people are estimated to have died as a result of the wildfires between 5 January and 1 February. Researchers said they tallied the figure by looking at all deaths and their causes in Los Angeles during the period of the fires, and comparing it to similar data from previous results show that there were nearly 7% more deaths during the wildfires. Some are attributed to lung and heart conditions exacerbated by smoke or stress, while others are more indirect - like delayed healthcare treatment for dialysis or cancer patients as a result of fire-related authors said that the findings underscore the need for officials to count both direct and indirect fatalities of wildfires and other climate-related emergencies when trying to quantify their impact. "They also highlight the need for improved mortality surveillance during and after wildfire emergencies," the authors said, noting that their figures are provisional as there may have been additional fire-related deaths beyond the scope of the BBC has reached out to Los Angeles County officials for comment on the study's findings. Another study released on Wednesday in JAMA that looked at the aftermath of the 2023 Maui wildfires showed that 22% of adults in the region had reduced lung function, and half displayed symptoms of depression. The fires, which broke out in August 2023 and were the worst to affect Hawaii in recent history, killed at least 102 people and destroyed more than 2,000 structures. The authors of the Maui study said their results show the need for "sustained clinical monitoring and community-based mental health supports" months after a climate disaster.A second study on the Hawaii fires suggests that Maui saw the highest suicide and drug overdose rates in the month of the 2023 have become more frequent in recent years as a result of climate change, driven by hotter and drier weather that fuels fire addition to directly threatening lives and structures, smoke from wildfires has been shown to have adverse health effects on smoke has been found to be harmful to certain immune cells in the lungs, with a toxicity four times greater than particulates from other types of pollution. This can have a long-term impact on cardiovascular health, experts have people, pregnant women and young children, as well as those with underlying health conditions, such as heart disease or asthma, are more likely to get sick, experts say. But the smoke can also impact healthy adults.
