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Wegovy Users Have Less Kidney-related Health Problems, Analysis of Novo Study Finds

Boxes of Wegovy made by Novo Nordisk are seen at a pharmacy in London, Britain March 8, 2024. REUTERS/Hollie Adams/File Photo Purchase Licensing Rights
Boxes of Wegovy made by Novo Nordisk are seen at a pharmacy in London, Britain March 8, 2024. REUTERS/Hollie Adams/File Photo Purchase Licensing Rights
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Wegovy Users Have Less Kidney-related Health Problems, Analysis of Novo Study Finds

Boxes of Wegovy made by Novo Nordisk are seen at a pharmacy in London, Britain March 8, 2024. REUTERS/Hollie Adams/File Photo Purchase Licensing Rights
Boxes of Wegovy made by Novo Nordisk are seen at a pharmacy in London, Britain March 8, 2024. REUTERS/Hollie Adams/File Photo Purchase Licensing Rights

Novo Nordisk's Wegovy obesity drug reduced adverse kidney-related events by 22% in overweight and obese people in a large study, according to a new analysis the Danish drugmaker published on Saturday.

The analysis, from a large study for which substantial results had been released by Novo last year, was presented at the European Renal Congress in Stockholm.

"By addressing key markers of kidney health, semaglutide...may contribute to a significant reduction in the risk of kidney-related complications, including chronic kidney disease and end-stage renal disease," said Professor Helen M. Colhoun of the University of Edinburgh and lead study author.

A Novo spokesperson said in a statement to Reuters that the new analysis "demonstrates for the first time the benefits of semaglutide 2.4 mg in improving kidney function in people with cardiovascular disease and overweight or obesity, without diabetes, a high-risk population with increased need for kidney protection."

The study follows the publication in March of a Novo study showing its diabetes drug Ozempic delayed progression of chronic kidney disease in diabetes patients. Ozempic contains the same active ingredient, semaglutide, as Wegovy, which is approved as an obesity treatment.

The latest data adds to growing body of medical evidence 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.

In the new analysis, semaglutide led to a slower decline in a certain measure of kidney function known as eGFR (estimated glomerular filtration rate), particularly in individuals with a pre-existing kidney impairment.

There was also a significant reduction in the urinary albumin-to-creatine ratio (UACR), another important marker of kidney health, the analysis found.

Regardless of kidney function at the start of the study, "no increased risk of acute kidney injury was associated with semaglutide", it found.

The analysis examined data from a large trial by Novo Nordisk called Select. Initial results from that were published in August.

The 17,604-patient trial tested Wegovy not for weight loss or kidney function but for its heart protective benefits for overweight and obese patients who had preexisting heart disease but not diabetes.

The analysis published on Saturday comes a day after Novo presented detailed results of a separate late-stage trial showing its diabetes drug Ozempic slowed the worsening of kidney dysfunction in patients with type 2 diabetes and lowered the risk of kidney failure, heart problems, stroke and death.

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Varieties

'Social Studies' TV Series Takes Intimate Dive into Teens' Smartphone Life

This is the first generation born into a world with widespread social media. LOIC VENANCE / AFP/File
This is the first generation born into a world with widespread social media. LOIC VENANCE / AFP/File
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'Social Studies' TV Series Takes Intimate Dive into Teens' Smartphone Life

This is the first generation born into a world with widespread social media. LOIC VENANCE / AFP/File
This is the first generation born into a world with widespread social media. LOIC VENANCE / AFP/File

Sifting through the smartphones of dozens of US teens who agreed to share their social media content over the course of a year, filmmaker Lauren Greenfield came to a somber observation.
The kids are "very, very conscious of the mostly negative effects" these platforms are having on them -- and yet they just can't quit.
Greenfield's documentary series "Social Studies," premiering on Disney's FX and Hulu on Friday, arrives at a time of proliferating warnings about the dangers of social networks, particularly on young minds.
The show offers a frightening but moving immersion into the online lives of Gen Z youths, AFP said.
Across five roughly hour-long episodes, viewers get a crash course in just how much more difficult those thorny adolescent years have become in a world governed by algorithms.
In particular, the challenges faced by young people between ages 16 and 20 center on the permanent social pressure induced by platforms like Instagram and TikTok.
For example, we meet Sydney, who earns social media "likes" through increasingly revealing outfits; Jonathan, a diligent student who misses out on his top university picks and is immediately confronted with triumphant "stories" of those who were admitted; and Cooper, disturbed by accounts that glorify anorexia.
"I think social media makes a lot of teens feel like shit, but they don't know how to get off it," says Cooper, in the series.
'Like me more'
This is the first generation born into a world with widespread social media.
Via its subjects' personal smartphone accounts, the show offers a rare glimpse into the ways in which that hyper-connected reality has distorted the process of growing up.
We see how young people modify their body shapes with the swipe of a finger before posting photos, the panic that grips a high school due to fake rumors of a shooting.
"It's hard to tell what's been put into your mind, and what you actually like," says one anonymous girl, in a group discussion filmed for the docuseries.
These discussion circles between adolescents punctuate "Social Studies," and reveal the contradictions between the many young people's online personas, and their underlying anxieties.
Speaking candidly in a group, they complain about harassment, the lack of regulation on social media platforms, and the impossible beauty standards hammered home by their smartphones.
"If I see people with a six pack, I'm like: 'I want that.' Because maybe people would like me more," admits an anonymous Latino boy.
'Lost your social life'
The series is not entirely downbeat.
But the overall sense is a generation disoriented by the great digital whirlwind.
There are no psychologists or computer scientists in the series.
"The experts are the kids," Greenfield told a press conference this summer. "It was actually an opportunity to not go in with any preconceptions."
While "Social Studies" does not offer any judgment, its evidence would appear to support many of the recent health warnings surrounding hyper-online young people.
The US surgeon general, the country's top doctor, recently called for warning labels on social media platforms, which he said were incubating a mental health crisis.
And banning smartphones in schools appears to be a rare area of bipartisan consensus in a politically polarized nation.
Republican-led Florida has implemented a ban, and the Democratic governor of California signed a new law curbing phone use in schools on Monday.
"Collective action is the only way," said Greenfield.
Teenagers "all say 'if you're the only one that goes off (social media), you lost your social life.'"