GLP-1 drugs are everywhere these days, it seems.

You can’t turn on the TV without seeing a commercial or scroll social media without hearing about who is or isn’t on the miracle drug behind the weight loss of millions of people.

But what if GLP-1 can do more than help people lose weight, like maybe slow the onset of Alzheimer’s?

That’s the theory posited by a group of researchers out of Imperial College London, who presented their findings at Alzheimer’s Association International Conference held in early August.

204 Alzheimer’s patients in the United Kingdom were a part of the study, with those taking the active drug liraglutide, a GLP-1 agonist predecessor to Ozempic and Wegovy’s semaglutide, patients experiencing a cognitive decline 18 percent slower than those who took the placebo.

“We’ve known for some time through animal work that GLP-1 has a different type of activity in the brain,” Dr. Maria Carrillo, chief science officer and medical affairs lead for the Alzheimer’s Association told CNN, a reference to previous studies in animals showing that liraglutide, which is sold under the brand names Victoza and Saxenda by Ozempic manufacturer Novo Nordisk, can have neuroprotective effects. “This study really demonstrates for us the possibilities that are there.”

Still in its early stages, the research is promising, but not definite, and will require larger studies and more peer review.

The trial’s main goal was changing the rate at which the brain metabolizes glucose, a goal that was not met, which researchers suggested could have been a result of its small size.

More work will need to be done in that regard to ensure the veracity of their findings and create a practical application for potential future patients.

In addition to the benefit for cognition, the study found that the drug was associated with 50% less volume loss in several areas of the brain, according to a news release from the Alzheimer’s Association.

Those findings add to hope that larger trials being run by Ozempic’s maker, Novo Nordisk, will be successful, Carrillo told CNN.

Imperial College’s Professor Paul Edison said in a press release that “The slower loss of brain volume suggests liraglutide protects the brain, much like statins protect the heart,” Edison explained. “While further research is needed, liraglutide may work through various mechanisms, such as reducing inflammation in the brain, lowering insulin resistance and the toxic effects of Alzheimer’s biomarkers amyloid-beta and tau, and improving how the brain’s nerve cells communicate.”

As with semaglutide and other GLP-1 drugs, the most common side effect experienced by the patients who received active liraglutide was nausea, which accounted for just over a quarter of all adverse events in that group.

Despite the enthusiasm surrounding this trial into GLP-1’s potential effect on Alzheimer’s, both Novo Nordisk nor Eli Lilly, which makes Ozempic and Wegovy competitors Mounjaro and Zepbound, consider the neuroprotective investigations into these drugs to be long-shots, CNN reports.

Novo Nordisk’s CEO, Lars Fruergaard Jorgensen, told CNN last year that “Alzheimer’s is one of the most difficult diseases to study, and there’s been a long list of failed drug development.”

“So I would just caution,” he continued, “that this is probably the most risky trial that we have ever undertaken.”

That being said, with the popularity of these drugs, more research will be done.

“There’s a lot of hope, not only for a positive semaglutide trial but also for the ability to be able to combine that with a monoclonal antibody FDA-approved today,” Carillo said.

Repurposing a drug already approved for another condition could provide additional data and experience from previous research and practical use, and in this case could be an effective way to combat Alzheimer’s.

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