Scientists remain puzzled as to why some individuals taking popular weight loss and diabetes medications such as Ozempic and Wegovy develop complications with their eyesight, highlighting that we still have a lot to learn about this relatively new class of drugs.
Novo Nordisk on Friday reported strong early-stage results for its once-a-week obesity drug. Before the open, Novo Nordisk stock jumped while Eli Lilly fell. In the phase 1b/2a clinical trial, obese and overweight patients taking 20 milligrams of the amycretin drug saw an average weight reduction of 22% in 36 weeks. Patients taking a placebo experienced a 2% weight gain. Those taking 1.25mg over 20 weeks lost 9.7% of their body weight, with patients on 5mg over 28 weeks seeing a reduction of 16.2%.
State AGs have reached a new opioid settlement worth $7.4 billion with Purdue Pharma and its owners. The settlement does not give Sackler family members immunity from future opioid lawsuits.
A new real-world study published in PLOS Medicine that looked at outcomes of 703,647 patients with COVID-19 seen at 34 US clinics in 2022 and 2023 found that Paxlovid use was correlated with lower rates of hospitalization and death, particularly among older patients.
Robert F. Kennedy Jr. is distancing himself from his anti-vaccine work as he seeks to become the leader of the nation’s top health agency under President Donald Trump, according to government ethics documents released Wednesday. Kennedy has pulled in roughly $10 million in income from his work over the past year, which includes speaking fees, leading an anti-vaccine nonprofit and legal fees, government ethics forms filed for his nomination show. ... If confirmed, he has promised to stop collecting fees on some of his vaccine lawsuits involving the U.S. government.
A VA study on the relationship between GLP-1 weight-loss drugs and 175 diseases and conditions supports a lot of what scientists already suspected about potential benefits, but contains a few surprises, too. The findings, published Monday in the journal Nature Medicine and based on an analysis of medical records from about 2.5 million patients in the VA system, support the idea that the medications might be able to help patients with Alzheimer’s disease and who are suffering from substance abuse involving alcohol, cannabis and narcotics.