A box of Novo Nordisk’s Ozempic is seen at a pharmacy in London, UK on March 8, 2024.
Holly Adams | Reuters
A version of this article first appeared in CNBC’s Healthy Returns newsletter, which delivers the latest healthcare news straight to your inbox. To receive future editions, subscribe here.
New unintended side effects may be associated. novo nordiskOzempic, a blockbuster diabetes injection.
Danish health authorities said on Monday they are asking the European Union’s medicines regulator to consider the results of two Danish studies linking Ozempic to an increased risk of a rare sight-threatening eye disease in people with type 2 diabetes. Announced.
This condition is called nonarteritic anterior ischemic optic neuropathy, or NAION. It is characterized by loss of vision due to decreased blood flow to the anterior part of the optic nerve, which connects the eye to the brain.
The disease is usually painless and most commonly affects people over the age of 50. According to some estimates, 2.3 to 10.3 patients per 100,000 people are infected with NAION annually in the United States.
The Danish Medicines Agency said it had been closely monitoring NAION over the past six months for possible side effects of semaglutide, the active ingredient in Ozempic. As of December 10, the agency had received 19 reports of symptoms in Denmark.
However, since Ozempic was introduced to the Danish market in 2018, the overall number of cases of NAION in Denmark has increased, Jakob Grausland, professor of eye diseases at the University of Southern Denmark (SDU), said in a release on Monday. mentioned in. Denmark used to have about 60 to 70 cases a year, but now the number is up to 150, added Grousland, who helped lead one of the studies.
This is the latest potential concern regarding popular GLP-1s such as Ozempic, which mimics gut hormones to regulate blood sugar levels and suppress appetite. Demand for this drug class is skyrocketing despite a high price tag and some unpleasant side effects, most commonly gastrointestinal, such as nausea and vomiting.
Novo Nordisk said in a statement on Monday that after a “thorough evaluation of the study” and an internal safety assessment, the Danish drugmaker was “of the view that the benefit-risk profile of semaglutide remains unchanged.” . The company added that patient safety is its top priority.
The study, independently conducted by SDU researchers and other institutions, found that diabetic patients who took Ozempic were more than twice as likely to be diagnosed with diabetes than those who took another diabetes drug. It turned out that.
The first Danish study was based on data from more than 400,000 diabetics, a quarter of whom were treated with Ozempic and the rest with other diabetes drugs. The second study included more than 44,000 Danish diabetic patients who received Ozempic between 2018 and 2024 and approximately 17,000 Norwegian patients who received the drug between 2018 and 2022. data was included.
The study was posted to medRxiv, a website that posts research before it is reviewed by outside scientists. Both appear to support a link first suggested in a Harvard University study earlier this year.
Still, the authors of the original SDU study said the absolute risk of this condition in semaglutide users was low. They added that the results show that a diabetic patient taking Ozempic for 20 years has a 0.3-0.5% chance of developing NAION, assuming the risk remains constant over time. .
“While our findings do not exclude the possibility of an increased risk of NAION when using semaglutide for obesity, the small number of events observed does not suggest that the potential risk is absolute.” “This suggests that it is likely to be restricted to a small size,” the authors of the first study said.
They added that additional analyzes of different designs are needed to further investigate whether Wegovy users taking semaglutide for obesity also have an increased risk of obesity.
So far, analysts aren’t too worried about NAION’s risks or the possibility of reducing Ozempic’s prescriptions.
“Unless semaglutide turns out to be unique among GLP-1s in carrying this risk, prescribing is unlikely to be affected,” TD Cowen analyst Michael Nedelkovic said in research on Monday. I mentioned it in my notes.
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Latest Healthcare Technology: Study Finds Almost 80% of Physicians Using Telemedicine Do It Weekly
If doctors want it, telemedicine is here to stay. That’s according to a new report from Doximity, which found that 83% of physicians want telemedicine to remain a “permanent part of clinical practice.”
Doximity operates a digital platform for medical professionals that is likened to LinkedIn for doctors. But users can do more than just network and read news on Doximity, as the company also offers telemedicine tools such as voice and video calls.
As the company has some stake in the game, Doximity released a report on Tuesday outlining the current state of telemedicine in the United States and its role in healthcare delivery. The company surveyed 1,171 physician telemedicine users and 131 nurse telemedicine users in August.
More than 77% of physicians surveyed said they use telemedicine weekly, and 35% said they incorporate the technology into their daily clinical practice. Almost 90% of nurses reported using telehealth weekly and 52% daily.
“The strong support for telemedicine by physicians highlights the growing role of telemedicine in modern medicine, which has the potential to change the way health care is delivered for years to come. ” said Doximity.
Additionally, approximately two-thirds of physicians say telemedicine has “improved patient outcomes” in their practice, particularly among neurologists, endocrinologists, and rheumatologists. Doximity’s research found that endocrinologists, urologists, gastroenterologists, rheumatologists, and neurologists each have the highest adoption of this technology.
The most common use of telemedicine in clinical practice is follow-up visits, with 84% of physicians saying they would use the technology for follow-up visits. Next, 60% of physicians say they use telemedicine to manage medications, 57% say they use it to discuss lab reports and results with patients, and 52% use telemedicine to manage patients’ chronic respondents said they use it to support disease management.
Half of the physicians surveyed said telemedicine improved patient adherence to treatment plans, up from 37% last year.
Nearly one-third of doctors say this technology has helped them see more patients per day, and two-thirds say it has helped them improve patient care.
Read Doximity’s full report here.
Feel free to send tips, suggestions, story ideas, and data to Ashley at ashley.capoot@nbcuni.com.