Novo Nordisk wants to increase the use of its blockbuster treatments. It is testing their weight loss drugs to see if they reduce alcohol consumption and treat alcoholic hepatitis.
The Danish pharmaceutical company started recruiting for a midstage trial to see if 240 patients with alcoholic liver diseases can be treated by semaglutide (the active ingredient of Wegovy) and cagrilintide (an ingredient in another Novo Nordisk weight loss drug currently in development).
Novo Nordisk is already assessing semaglutide’s effects in liver disease linked to obesity — metabolic dysfunction-associated steatohepatitis — but this is the first study to assess the effectiveness of the new generation of weight-loss treatments on alcoholic liver disease, which kills more than 30,000 Americans a year.
The phase-two study, which is scheduled to end in June 2025 opens the door for a new treatment option for a disease that has few options. The treatment of alcoholic liver disease has remained mostly unchanged over the last four decades. It relies heavily on abstinence, nutrition therapy and steroid use. Bloomberg first reported the trial. It was then posted to Clinicaltrials.gov last week.
The drug’s health benefits go beyond weight loss. In November, a trial showed that the drug could reduce mortality risk in patients with cardiovascular disease by up to 18%.
A new analysis on this data showed that users of the drug can sustain weight loss for four years, and benefit from cardiovascular benefits regardless their weight. Novo Nordisk also explores the benefits of semaglutide for Alzheimer’s.
To convince the health system to use its drug more widely, the company will need to expand the uses of their drug. The Food and Drug Administration in the US approved Wegovy to reduce the risk of cardiovascular disease. This allowed it to be covered under Medicare Part D Plans, which cover more than 50mn Americans.
The high cost of the drug is a problem for European health systems. The UK limits its use to just two years and Denmark, the country where Novo Nordisk has its headquarters, provides it only privately.
Novo Nordisk has declined to comment.
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