Antidiabetic medication semaglutide, more widely known by brand names Ozempic and Wegovy, significantly reduces the risk of kidney failure, substantial loss of kidney function and death from kidney or cardiovascular causes, an international clinical trial led by UNSW Sydney researchers has shown.
The trial involving more than 3500 participants with type 2 diabetes and chronic kidney disease from 28 countries – including Australia, the USA and China – found a small weekly dose of semaglutide reduced the risk of major 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, which was given to half of the participants in the placebo-controlled trial, while risk of death from any cause was 20 per cent lower, says the study findings 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 greater 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,” Prof. Perkovic, a nephrologist, said.
The trial, conducted between June 2019 and May 2021, used a lower dose of semaglutide than generally used for diabetes or weight loss treatment, with patients receiving 1.0 mg per week or a placebo. The trial was funded by pharmaceutical company Novo Nordisk, the supplier of Ozempic.
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 Prof. Perkovic said was a function of the poor health of those involved in the trial – people with high-risk chronic kidney disease.
The proven 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,” Prof. Perkovic said.
“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.”
