Ozempic and Mounjaro help people with type 1 diabetes control blood sugar and lose weight

FRIDAY, Sept. 13, 2024 (HealthDay News) — Initially approved to treat type 2 diabetes, Ozempic and Mounjaro may also help people with type 1 diabetes lose weight and control their blood sugar levels, a new study finds.

Overweight or obese type 1 diabetics who took Mounjaro were able to reduce the amount of insulin they needed each day, researchers reported Thursday at the annual meeting of the European Association for the Study of Diabetes in Madrid.

And both drugs helped patients lose weight, which can improve blood sugar control, the researchers said.

Ozempic (semaglutide) and Mounjaro (tirzepatide) help the body make more insulin when needed, something that will not help type 1 diabetics, who have lost the ability to make insulin.

But the drugs also slow the digestion of food and reduce the amount of glucose produced by the liver, which should help some type 1 diabetics control blood sugar levels, the researchers said.

“Some of the mechanisms by which semaglutide and tirzepatide lower blood sugar in type 2 diabetes are likely also relevant in type 1 diabetes,” said lead researcher Janet Snell-Bergeon, a professor at the University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus.

For this study, researchers analyzed medical data from 100 adults with type 1 diabetes, half of whom were prescribed Ozempic and half of whom were prescribed Mounjaro.

Both drugs caused weight loss. Type 1 diabetics lost an average of 9% of their body weight with Ozempic, and more than 21%, on average, with Mounjaro.

Overall, 77 percent of Ozempic users and 93 percent of Mounjaro users lost at least 5 percent of their body weight, compared with 14 percent of a matched control group that did not take the drugs.

Similarly, 47% of Ozempic users and 87% of Mounjaro users lost at least 10% of their body weight, something no one in the control group achieved.

“This amount of weight loss has been seen in other studies of these drugs, and is likely to reduce the risk of several consequences of obesity, such as heart disease and insulin resistance,” Snell-Bergeon said in a meeting news release.

For Mounjaro users, that weight loss translated into an 18 percent reduction in the amount of insulin they took each day, the researchers said.

“This is a substantial reduction and is an indication that insulin resistance has improved,” Snell-Bergeon noted.

These results show that both drugs can help people with type 1 diabetes keep their blood sugar under control, the researchers concluded.

“Semaglutide and tirzepatide can lead to significant weight loss in these patients and improve their blood sugar levels, which could reduce their risk of complications of obesity and diabetes, including heart disease and eye, nerve and kidney problems,” Snell-Bergeon said.

“These drugs could be a valuable addition to insulin in the treatment of type 1 diabetes,” Snell-Bergeon continued. “However, larger prospective trials are now needed to fully evaluate their safety and efficacy in patients with type 1 diabetes living with overweight and obesity.”

Because these findings were presented at a medical meeting, they should be considered preliminary until published in a peer-reviewed journal.

More information

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) offers more information about type 1 diabetes.

SOURCE: European Association for the Study of Diabetes, press release, 12 September 2024