A new international study led by UNSW Sydney has found that Novo Nordisk's OZEMPIC and WEGOVY (semaglutide) significantly reduce the risk of kidney failure, substantial loss of kidney function and death from kidney or cardiovascular causes.
The medicines, which are also commonly prescribed for weight loss, involved more than 3,500 people with type 2 diabetes and chronic kidney disease in 28 countries, including Australia, the USA and China.
The trial found that a small weekly dose of semaglutide reduced the risk of significant kidney events by 24 per cent.
The risk of cardiovascular events such as heart attack and stroke was also 18 per cent lower for those on semaglutide. The risk of death from any cause was 20 per cent lower. The findings were published in The New England Journal of Medicine.
Lead study author and Scientia Professor Vlado Perkovic, Provost at UNSW Sydney, said the benefits of semaglutide for those with type 2 diabetes and chronic kidney disease were more significant than expected.
“We would be saving kidneys, hearts and lives in this population by making this drug available to them and that’s quite extraordinary for one treatment to be able to do,” said Professor Perkovic.
The trial, conducted between June 2019 and May 2021, used a lower dose of semaglutide than generally used for diabetes or weight loss treatment. Patients received 1.0 mg per week or a placebo. The trial was funded by Novo Nordisk.
Semaglutide also slowed down loss of kidney function, lowered systolic blood pressure, and reduced body weight among participants.
Serious adverse effects were also less common, compared to those experienced by the placebo group, but were still experienced by almost 50 per cent of those on semaglutide, which Professor Perkovic said was a function of the poor health of those involved in the trial – people with high-risk chronic kidney disease.
The benefits prompted the trial to be cut short, based on a recommendation by an Independent Data Monitoring Committee.
“It’s the same chemical compound but we used a lower dose ... we did that deliberately because people with kidney disease tend to be more sensitive to the effects and side effects of drugs,” said Professor Perkovic. “That’s helpful in terms of being able to perhaps have the drug more widely used than might have otherwise been the case given the current supply limitations.”
