Health
Ozempic and Wegovy could double as kidney disease treatment, study suggests
Ozempic prescriptions in Los Angeles surge 162%
Fox News medical contributor Dr. Marc Siegel discussed the surge of Ozempic prescriptions, his reaction to the Pope saying a migrant ‘has to be received’ and a spike in hepatitis cases in the homeless population in Los Angeles.
Semaglutide medications — including Ozempic and Wegovy — have been shown to reduce the risk of kidney failure and the risk of death among people with kidney disease and type 2 diabetes.
In a trial led by UNSW Sydney between June 2019 and May 2021, researchers found that a small weekly dose of semaglutide lessened the likelihood of “major kidney events” by 24%, according to a press release.
The study, funded by Novo Nordisk and published in The New England Journal of Medicine, included more than 3,500 participants with type 2 diabetes and chronic kidney disease from 28 countries.
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The participants received 1.0 mg per week of semaglutide, which is less than what is typically prescribed for weight loss or diabetes, the release noted.
The median follow-up was 3.4 years.
Semaglutide medications — including Ozempic and Wegovy — have been shown to reduce the risk of kidney failure and the risk of death among people with kidney disease and type 2 diabetes. (iStock)
“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,” said the study’s lead author, professor Vlado Perkovic of UNSW Sydney, in the release.
“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.”
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The group of people taking semaglutide were also 18% less likely to experience a heart attack, stroke and other cardiovascular events, the study found.
Why does semaglutide have this effect?
Patients with type 2 diabetes and chronic kidney disease are at a significant risk for kidney failure, cardiovascular events and death, according to Dr. Brett Osborn, a neurologist and longevity expert in Florida.
“The recent study published in the New England Journal of Medicine highlights semaglutide’s potential to mitigate these risks,” Osborn, who was not involved in the study, told Fox News Digital.
Dr. Brett Osborn, a neurologist and longevity expert in Florida, noted that patients with type 2 diabetes and chronic kidney disease are at a significant risk for kidney failure, cardiovascular events and death. (Dr. Brett Osborn)
Semaglutide works by improving glycemic control, Osborn noted — which is crucial in mitigating diabetic nephropathy (kidney disease).
“It also lowers inflammation — particularly within the blood vessel lining,” he said.
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This reduces blood vessel damage and improves blood flow through the kidneys.
“Overall, semaglutide offers substantial renal and cardiovascular protection for patients with type 2 diabetes and chronic kidney disease,” Osborn said.
“At a base level, semaglutide, through indirect mechanisms, improves vascular health. The better blood flow to your organs — be it your heart, brain or kidneys — the longer you are likely to live.”
Semaglutide works by improving glycemic control, one doctor noted, which is crucial in mitigating diabetic nephropathy (kidney disease). (Getty Images)
Outside the spectrum of diabetes, Osborn said he believes these medications will have a major impact on human health, comparing them to the advent of antibiotics at the turn of the century.
Dr. Marc Siegel, clinical professor of medicine at NYU Langone Medical Center and a Fox News medical contributor, also said this was a “very important” study.
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“This lifesaving result is likely due to the metabolic effects of the drug, which helps with reducing inflammation, overcoming insulin resistance, and improving insulin function and glucose metabolism at the cellular level,” Siegel told Fox News Digital.
“This study has broader implications for all patients who have kidney failure.”
“Improved kidney function means improved heart function, and pressure on the heart from failed kidneys is a major cause of heart attack and death.”
Siegel added, “This study has broader implications for all patients who have kidney failure or are at risk for it.”
Novo Nordisk, the Denmark-based company that makes Ozempic and Wegovy, announced the positive primary results from the trial at the European Renal Association (ERA) Congress in Sweden last week. (LISELOTTE SABROE/Scanpix Denmark/AFP via Getty Images)
Novo Nordisk, the Denmark-based company that makes Ozempic and Wegovy, announced the positive primary results from the trial at the European Renal Association (ERA) Congress in Sweden last week.
“FLOW is the first ever renal outcomes trial with a GLP-1 receptor agonist, and demonstrated a statistically significant reduction in kidney disease progression, cardiovascular death, and all-cause mortality risk with semaglutide 1 mg,” Michael Radin, executive medical director for diabetes at Novo Nordisk, said in a statement sent to Fox News Digital.
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“This study highlights our drive to make a meaningful difference in the lives of people living with type 2 diabetes and CKD and to deliver innovations to address current unmet medical needs in CKD pending FDA approval.”
Wegovy is an injectable prescription weight loss medicine that has helped people with obesity. (Michael Siluk/UCG/Universal Images Group via Getty Images)
To leverage semaglutide as a treatment for kidney disease, there is a need to overcome supply shortages and conduct research about combining the medication with other therapies, the researchers stated in the release.
Novo Nordisk will also need to seek regulatory approval for the drug to be used for chronic kidney disease patients.
“The challenge is to get these results into clinical practice, to get the drug used by the people who will benefit from it, who will live longer without dialysis, without heart attacks, without strokes, if they take this drug,” Perkovic said.
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Researchers have shed fresh light on how a simple, centuries-old Chinese practice could be almost as effective as some medications in lowering blood pressure.
Baduanjin is a form of exercise that’s been widely practiced in China for at least 800 years. It involves a series of eight slow movements, gentle breathing and meditation — and typically takes only about 10 minutes to complete.
In a clinical trial, researchers studied 216 adults age 40 and older with Stage 1 hypertension. Over the course of a year, participants performed either baduanjin, self-directed exercise or brisk walking.
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Researchers found that participants who practiced baduanjin five times per week experienced lower blood pressure within three months.
The results were “comparable to reductions seen with some first-line medications,” they wrote in their report published by the American College of Cardiology.
High blood pressure, if left untreated, can lead to heart attack and stroke. Now, researchers have shed new light on how a simple, centuries-old Chinese practice could be almost as effective as some medications in lowering blood pressure. (andreswd/Getty Images)
Baduanjin also showed “comparable results and safety profile to brisk walking at one year,” the researchers further reported.
“Given its simplicity, safety and ease at which one can maintain long-term adherence, baduanjin can be implemented as an effective, accessible and scalable lifestyle intervention for individuals trying to reduce their [blood pressure],” said the senior author of the study, Jing Li, M.D., Ph.D.
Dr. Matthew Saybolt, medical director of the Hackensack Meridian Jersey Shore University Medical Center’s Structural Heart Disease Program, said he was surprised by an aspect of the study’s results.
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“I was biased and expected that higher intensity exercise like brisk walking would have resulted in greater improvement in blood pressure than baduanjin, but the effects were the same,” Saybolt told Fox News Digital. (He was not affiliated with the study.)
Dr. Antony Chu, clinical assistant professor at Brown University’s Warren Alpert School of Medicine, was born and raised in the U.S. to immigrant parents — his mother is from Hong Kong and his father is from Taiwan.
Practitioners of baduanjin, such as those in this class, incorporate slow movements with mindful breathing. (Xinhua News Agency/Getty Images)
Having spent a lot of summers in Asia, Chu told Fox News he experienced “the best of both worlds” concerning Eastern and Western medicine, including exposure to the benefits of baduanjin.
“[These researchers] are taking a lot of things that have been commonplace for many, many centuries or millennia and then just applying mathematical modeling and statistical analysis to sort of give [them] some credibility,” Chu said.
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“Western medicine is reactionary,” Chu also said.
He compared the philosophies to a house on fire: Eastern medicine practitioners are more invested in preventing the fire, whereas Western medicine is more focused on “all those things that it would need to do to try to put that fire out,” he said, sharing his opinion.
A new study shows how people with high blood pressure can reduce it without medicine. (FG Trade/Getty Images)
Left untreated, high blood pressure has dangers that are “too numerous to count,” Saybolt said. The risks include increased risks of stroke, heart attack, atrial fibrillation and congestive heart failure.
Baduanjin, Chu said, is effective at reducing blood pressure, which he likened to “the water pressure and the pipes of your house,” by calming the nervous system and reducing stress.
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“People are totally stressed out,” Chu said. “And stress reduction is huge.”
Saybolt said the study offers hope for people with hypertension — “and that hope doesn’t immediately have to include pharmaceuticals.”
Baduanjin is easily incorporated into most lifestyles and can be done without equipment almost anywhere and at any time. (Getty Images)
Saybolt added that he’s always advocated for lifestyle modifications, including healthy diet and exercise, “as key therapies for treatment of diseases and to improve longevity.”
With the baduanjin data, Saybold said he is now “more optimistic than ever,” as “we have evidence that a very low impact exercise with mindfulness can yield a benefit.”
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Chu said that translating overwhelming medical guidelines is a big part of his job.
“It’s not to just tell somebody, ‘Hey, your blood pressure’s too high, pick a pill,” he said.
Baduanjin has been a preventative health practice the Chinese have been incorporating into their routines for centuries. (Xinhua News Agency/Getty Images)
“Lifestyle changes” can be daunting for many people, he added.
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“They always make it sound like you have to live for seven years in Tibet on a mountain somewhere, and it’s really not that.”
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His simple translation for the baduanjin study is this: “Close the door in your office and just say, ‘I can’t be bothered for 10 minutes,’ and just focus on breathing slowly and moving your arms or legs around.”
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Gabe Poirot says he ‘met Jesus’ during an 18-day coma
Kayleigh McEnany interviews Gabe Poirot, who shares his extraordinary near-death experience during an 18-day coma in October 2021. Poirot describes leaving his body, encountering Jesus, and witnessing how heaven is a person rather than a place. He also discusses his book, ’18 Days in Heaven,’ detailing his spiritual journey and message of hope.
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Rudy Giuliani, 81, is recovering from a severe case of viral pneumonia that led him into a coma in early May.
The former New York City mayor returned to his online talk show “America’s Mayor Live!” on May 13 and opened up about his health status.
“I feel like I’ve recovered 100%,” he said. “I’ve been home a few days and doing really, really well.”
RUDY GIULIANI OUT OF ICU, CONTINUING TO RECOVER IN HOSPITAL: ‘HE’S WINNING THIS FIGHT’
Giuliani reflected on his time in the hospital, revealing that he had a “very significant spiritual experience” while he was in a “state of out of it.”
“I would equate it to a dream of being on line headed for — I can’t say headed for heaven — headed for a trial with St. Peter,” he described.
Rudy Giuliani attends the annual 9/11 Commemoration Ceremony at the National 9/11 Memorial and Museum in New York City in September 2024. The former New York City mayor, 81, is recovering from a severe case of viral pneumonia that led him into a coma in early May. (Michael M. Santiago/Getty Images)
“And there was a very, very significant intervention by my Peter. I have my own Peter, Peter Powers. Peter J. Powers, my friend of my lifetime.”
During this dream state, Peter said some “very significant words,” which Giuliani made sure to repeat and have others record when he woke up, he shared.
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“As soon as I could, I wrote it out so that I wouldn’t forget it, and it’s meant a lot to me, and I’ve been reflecting on it quite a bit,” he added.
Giuliani was able to discuss his experience with a priest — and plans to share more at a different time.
“I don’t want to embellish it,” he said. “I don’t want to deny what was there.”
Powers and Giuliani reportedly became friends in high school. Powers later served as Giuliani’s campaign manager and his first deputy mayor. He died in 2016 at 72 years old from complications with lung cancer, according to multiple news outlets.
Giuliani was hospitalized in critical but stable condition on Sunday, May 3, due to severe breathing issues.
Giuliani’s doctor, Maria Ryan, told Fox News correspondent Danamarie McNicholl that the former mayor began feeling ill after returning from a trip to Paris, with his breathing deteriorating to the point that he was placed on a ventilator.
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Ryan said his condition turned critical, prompting a priest to be called to his bedside to perform last rites. But by Tuesday, Giuliani’s condition had improved enough for doctors to remove him from the ventilator.
According to political strategist Ted Goodman, Giuliani’s response and exposure to the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks later led to a diagnosis of restrictive airway disease.
New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani stands with Police Commissioner Bernard Kerik and Emergency Management Director Richard Scheirer before dedicating a public viewing platform overlooking the World Trade Center attack site in New York on Dec. 29, 2001. (Kathy Willens/AP)
Although Giuliani and his doctors have not confirmed that he had a “near-death experience,” similar encounters are often reported by people emerging from critical medical situations.
In a 2023 review published in the journal Frontiers in Psychology, researchers analyzed more than four decades of reports of near-death experiences, involving more than 2,000 studies and nearly 500 individuals.
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Near-death events were categorized into four types of experiences: emotional, cognitive, spiritual/religious and supernatural.
The research identified common traits in these reports – especially having out-of-body experiences, passing through a tunnel, having heightened senses, seeing deceased people or religious figures, encountering a bright light and reviewing life events.
A detailed view of the 19th century statue of Saint Peter the Apostle holding a gold key, symbolizing the key to heaven, located in St. Peter’s Square in Vatican City, Rome. (iStock)
Although these experiences can differ by interpretation, the researchers concluded that the heightened senses and improved consciousness indicate that “these experiences are neither dreams nor sleep, nor the disorders caused.”
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“This phenomenon is medically inexplicable,” they wrote, adding that the research points to a consistent pattern that “supports the clarity and authenticity of near-death experiences.”
Fox News Digital’s Landon Mion contributed reporting.
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