It’s rare for a drug to become a household name and even rarer for one to become a superstar, but with its ability to grab headlines, Ozempic is the Taylor Swift of pharmaceuticals. So what’s behind her star power? As the drug and its derivatives take off, researchers are racing to figure out how it works.
“We’re seeing so many tremendous benefits,” he says Steven Dayan at the University of Illinois. “It’s early days, but it looks like these drugs will not only change medicine, but our entire economy.”
Most drugs treat only one or two conditions, meaning that “cure-alls” that promise to treat all diseases are usually viewed with skepticism and suspicion. Ozempice seems to buck that trend. Last year, Wegovy – a version of Ozempic approved for weight loss – was shown reduce the risk of heart attacks and strokes almost 20 percent. It suggested the creation of “Ozempic pregnancies”. fertility benefits. People started to notice positive effects on depression and anxiety. in may the results showed that it also reduced the risk of kidney failure and death in people with diabetes in a three-year trial. In July, another version the drug was found to reduce brain shrinkage and slow cognitive decline in people with Alzheimer’s disease.
Wegovy and other weight loss drugs are heavily advertised in the US
Richard Levine/Alay
Why this drug helps so many conditions is still mysterious, but researchers are beginning to unravel the mechanisms underlying its extraordinary abilities. From its effects on the brain’s reward circuits to inflammation, understanding…
