The popular slimming drug Ozempic also helps with chronic kidney damage

The list of beneficial effects of the diabetes drug semaglutide, better known under the brand names Ozempic and Wegovy, continues to grow. People with chronic kidney damage also benefit, according to the new Groningen study. Damage and inflammation to the kidneys is clearly reduced.

This is the first small study in which more than a hundred patients participated. The group that received semaglutide for six months saw the number of proteins in their urine – a measure of damage to the kidneys – decreased by more than half. In the control group, which received a placebo, the level of the protein hardly changed.

The number of infections in their kidneys also decreased, by an average of 30 percent. In addition, their blood pressure decreased as much as certain blood pressure lowering drugs, and they lost 10 percent of their weight. The results were published in the scientific journal Nature Medicine.

Lead researcher Hiddo Heerspink is currently in the US to present the results at a conference for experts and is very enthusiastic about the results. “All the signs are now green to test this drug in a large study,” he says.

At this time, another drug is often prescribed to prevent kidney disease and cardiovascular disease, called SGLT2 inhibitors. Semaglutide could replace this drug, the researchers think. They do not even maintain that the resources can reinforce each other.

Although the subjects lost an average of one-tenth of their weight, the improved kidney function was not just a result of that weight loss. “It was not clear that the changes in body weight were related to the [betere] kidney function,” the researchers wrote.

The Kidney Foundation says it’s an interesting study. “More and more research of this kind is being done, which could lead to the development of new treatment methods,” says Annemiek Dorgelo, prevention program manager at the Kidney Foundation. “That is extremely important for the 1.8 million Dutch people who live with chronic kidney damage.”

Researcher Heerspink agrees. “Worldwide, currently 840 million people live with chronic kidney damage. The World Health Organization expects that cardiovascular disease, kidney damage and COPD (lung disease, right) by 2040 will be the main causes of death.”