United States: Zepbound has become one of the highly chosen weight-loss drugs that millions of American are on now, as the drug maker Eli Lilly reported recently.
It helps solve the sleep apnea problem among obese adults in two of the trial tests that the company conducted, as announced on Wednesday.
First approved to treat obesity by the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) last November, Zepbound’s power was significant, as it was found that about two-thirds of the SEVERITY of apnea in patients has been reduced.
Dr. Jeff Emmick, the senior president of product development at Lilly, said that Obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) “impacts 80 million adults in the U.S., with more than 20 million living with moderate-to-severe OSA. However, 85% of OSA cases go undiagnosed and therefore untreated,” as US News reported.
Moreover, “Addressing this unmet need head-on is critical, and while there are pharmaceutical treatments for the excessive sleepiness associated with OSA, tripeptide [Zepbound] has the potential to be the first pharmaceutical treatment for the underlying disease,” Emmick added..
More about the study
In two of the studies, researchers examined whether Zepbound has better potential than a placebo in order to reduce the number of times per hour, or on an average basis, that an individual partly or fully feels a hindrance in breathing during sleep.
In the study, the patients with sleep apnea did not seem to be using CPAP (continuous positive airway pressure) devices that throw air through the airway to prevent it from collapsing during sleep. However, in the second study, patients did use the machines.
After passing 52 years, Zepbound caused a reduction of 27.4 events per hour on average, among the individuals as compared to those who were not using PAP machines, where a reduction of 4.8 events per hour was noted in people with placebo.
Among the people using PAP machines, an average reduction of 30.4 events per hour was noticed among those using Zepbound, as compared to those who witnessed a reduction of 6 events per hour in the placebo on average.
Dr. Susan Spratt, an endocrinologist and senior medical director of the Population Health Management Office at Duke Health in North Carolina, said the findings reveal that obesity “is not a vanity issue.”
According to NBC News, moreover, as per her, “This is about treating a major health problem that reduces significant morbidity [illness] and mortality.”
Insurance coverage for weight-loss medicine
She also said this discovery might help insurance companies approve financing for weight-loss medicine.
Later, last month, Medicare specified that the drug Wegovy should be covered by health care for patients who suffer from both obesity and cardiac diseases.
How prevalent is sleep apnea in the US?
Sleep apnea is no longer rare among portion of the US people, approximately 39 million people according to National Council on Aging. Obesity can be an important factor for the development of sleep apnea. As it gets already closer to airways, the condition can even lead to sleep apnea diagnosis.
If left untreated, sleep apnea can provoke such heart arrhythmias and heart failure and will result in fatality as well.
Lilly, in consultation with hospital partners, plans to submit additional findings from the pilot studies at the American Diabetes Association’s annual meeting in June. It will also submit the findings to the FDA at some point this summer.